Diary for Gabriel
by aLoggedInReader
Summary: Sequel to "It's not the size that counts". This will be a series of cute and fluffy domestic scenes as Gabriel grows up in his strange little family. Rated T to be on the safe side with the swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **This story is a sequel to "It's not the size that counts" and I am not sure it'll make much sense without reading that other story first.**  
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Enjoy!

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**1**

_December 25th, 2010_

_Every hunter should have a diary and every father should have one, too._

_Merry Christmas_

_-Bobby_

_You have been with us for about five months now, Gabe. A lot of things have happened and I honestly don't know how I'll ever explain some of them to you, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it._

_For now I just want to tell you about your first Christmas…_

* * *

"Watch where you are going, dammit!" Dean yelled, nearly dropping the side of the Christmas tree he was holding up when they collided into yet anything piece of furniture.

Alright, so maybe the older Winchester had been the one who had insisted that there was no use getting one of those lame, little trees, but he hadn't known that Sam would be no great help carrying it inside then!

"We're nearly there," the younger Winchester grunted, trying not to walk right into the couch table, at least. It would be about the only piece of furniture they had missed and Bobby would probably tear them a new one for the chaos they had caused. Oh well, at least nothing had been broken… as far as Sam could tell.

"Where did you put that damn stand?" Dean grumbled. He didn't really see where they were going with all the branches that were impeding his line of sight, but he was pretty sure that they had entered Bobby's house, had left again through the backdoor and were well on their way to Canada, at this point.

"Right here," Sam replied with a relieved sigh as he gave his brother a sign to put the tree upright and hold it for a moment while the younger Winchester tried to get it into the stand. After everything they had been through carrying the tree inside, putting it up was surprisingly easy.

Dean wiped his hands on his jeans and looked at their handiwork with a through and through satisfied expression, next to him Sam nodded his approval. All in all, they had done pretty well and the tree looked nice even without the decorations already, so it could only get better.

"That is one beautiful tree," Dean commented proudly before he turned around with a muttered, "I'll go get the saw."

The younger Winchester nodded again. He had tried to tell his brother that the ceilings in Bobby's house weren't quite as high as he seemed to think they were, but Dean wouldn't listen to him, of course. Oh well, their Christmas tree would still be beautiful without the few extra inches.

"Do you idjits think that we're living in a cathedral?" Bobby commented gruffly, shaking his head in slight annoyance, even though it wasn't that hard to tell that he was actually amused.

"Don't look at me," Sam shrugged, "Dean insisted that he wouldn't allow us to get a _toothpick_."

It was nice to see that his older brother was getting into the spirit as much as he was. In fact, it looked like Dean was the one of them who was the most excited by the prospect of a proper family Christmas, even if he insisted that they were mostly doing all of this for Gabriel. Thinking of the archangel…

"Where's Gabe?" the younger Winchester asked, looking around as if he thought he might have simply missed the infant before. They had left him with Bobby when they had gone to get the tree earlier, but the older hunter obviously didn't have the baby with him.

"His brother took him upstairs to play," Bobby answered with a shrug.

There was no need saying which brother. Castiel spent time with Gabriel, but the angel wouldn't take his baby brother anywhere to play with him. Most of the time he just watched when others played with Gabriel or he joined one of the games when somebody told him to, but he would never request to get some time alone with the infant. It wasn't a big surprise that Castiel didn't really know how to act around a baby, though.

Sam made his way upstairs just as Dean returned with the saw and he and Bobby started to argue whether they should cut the top or the bottom of the tree. Apparently, the older Winchester would prefer cutting the top, because the bottom was bushier and would hold more decoration while Bobby thought that they should cut the bottom, because the tree would lose its shape otherwise.

"Daddy!" Gabriel yelled on the top of his little lungs the moment Sam opened the door. The infant immediately got to his hands and knees and scrambled over to the younger Winchester in record speed. He really was getting very good and very quick and they had recently discovered that stairs weren't safe from the baby anymore, either.

Balthazar shook his head and stood up from the floor to lean against the wall casually, instead. Apparently, he had just lost his brother's attention and playing with the little toy cars by himself without the excuse that he was just humoring Gabriel with it wasn't really appealing to the angel.

"Hey there, champ," Sam greeted the little archangel, picking him up and planting a kiss against his cheek, "What did you two get up to?"

The younger Winchester had stopped feeling uncomfortable with showing his affection for Gabriel quite some time ago and was rewarded for it with a happy squeal and a tight hug most of the time. This time was no exception.

"We were cruising around the French Riviera," Balthazar answered with a smirk, "But high waters forced us to switch cars after a while."

What the angel meant was that Gabriel had decided he'd much rather put the toy into his mouth and drool on it than watch it drive around on the floor.

"I assume you brought the tree inside," Balthazar added a moment later, "I'll better go and make sure that the decoration stays on the tasteful side of tacky."

Sam thought about pointing out that they had crossed the line a couple days ago when the glowing plastic Santa had suddenly appeared on the front porch, but he didn't feel like complaining about anything when their entire strange little family had come together to celebrate Christmas.

"Do you want to see the tree, too?" the younger Winchester asked the baby on his arm in an upbeat tone that was nearly guaranteed to make Gabriel yell 'yes' and the littlest archangel didn't disappoint.

As it turned out Bobby and Dean had come to a compromise and had cut the tree from the top and from the bottom. It still reached the ceiling, but it wasn't bending strangely anymore.

"I hope you paid for that tree," Sheriff Mills stated in an amused tone, putting the box of decorations she had brought on the floor.

"Yes, Ma'am!" Dean replied dutifully, eying the box with a mix of curiosity and amusement, "Does that mean we won't have empty soda and beer cans as ornaments this year?"

The scandalized look on Balthazar's face was enough to make everyone else laugh. This was where the angel really drew the line, though! He hadn't said anything about a universal color scheme for all decorations no matter how tempting it had been, because he didn't have to live at the place, but he wasn't going to celebrate Christmas with a tree that had garbage on it!

"Jody!" Gabriel exclaimed, extending his arms toward the sheriff until she got the hint and let the younger Winchester pass the baby on to her. The infant's very obvious love for Jody was also the main reason why she had been asked to join them, even though Sam suspected that Bobby had just taken the first excuse that had presented itself.

"I also brought the ham and the pie," Sheriff Mills pointed out, bouncing Gabriel against her hip to the baby's great amusement.

"Jody, if I were ready to settle down, I would marry you," Dean stated completely seriously, abandoning looking through the decorations that were available to them in favor of flashing a brilliant smile to the woman.

Well, if that wasn't a good start to their Christmas Day, Sam didn't know what would be.

* * *

"Cas, where the hell have you been?" Dean asked the dark-haired angel just as Sam and Gabriel returned from the baby's afternoon nap.

The tree had been decorated in red and gold and with fairy lights in the meantime and judged by the smell Jody had started with the cooking. Since Bobby was nowhere to be seen the younger Winchester thought it was a safe guess that he was helping.

"I understand it is customary to bring presents," Castiel replied, awkwardly presenting the bag with neatly wrapped gifts he was holding.

"Good excuse, dude, good excuse," the older Winchester grinned, patting his friend's shoulder. The two of them had grown closer still after Dean had taken up hunting alone and was mostly calling the angel for some help or company. Whenever he was on the phone with his younger brother the older Winchester had a new story about something Castiel had said or done and it wasn't that hard to tell that he wasn't only trying to make Sam believe that he was okay. Both Winchesters were actually happy with the way their lives were going and that was something neither one of them had been able to honestly say for quite some time.

"Anyway, now that we're finally all here," Dean stated with a grin that clearly meant he was up to something before he yelled loudly, "Everyone to the tree!"

He used the time it took for everyone to gather in the living room to get a medium sized box from where he had hidden it earlier.

"The tree topper is still missing," the older Winchester explained and took the figuring he had actually gotten custom made out of the box. It was about as big as a Barbie doll, but instead of the classical blonde, female angel with big white wings it looked very much like their favorite holy tax accountant with big black wings.

"That'll mess the entire color scheme of the tree up," Balthazar sighed, but put the topper on the tree, anyway. Color schemes aside, it was just too funny not to use it.

Castiel simply cocked his head and frowned deeply in confusion.

"It's also customary to have an angel on top of the tree, Cas," Dean stated seriously, "Next year we'll have a little Balthazar up there."

Nobody doubted that the older Winchester was serious about that, as well. Everyone went back to what they had been doing before a little while later. They still had some preparations to make, after all.

"Thank you, Dean," Castiel stated in a tone that had much more emotion in it than was usual for the angel before he hugged the human tightly for a few moments.

Sam had to bite his lower lip hard so he wouldn't laugh out loud at the baffled expression his older brother was making. He should have known that Castiel's responses to most things just weren't what one would expect, really.

"No problem, Cas," Dean replied, patting the angel's back with both hands for a moment, "Why don't you go and see if Bobby and Jody need help in the kitchen?"

As usually, Castiel followed the older Winchester's suggestion nearly immediately. As soon as the angel was out of sight Sam couldn't help laughing any longer.

"You'd think you proposed to him with that from the way he reacted," the younger Winchester chuckled before he faked complete seriousness and added, "Dude, I hope you're sure that this isn't actually some angelic mating ritual!"

"Ha ha," Dean replied, but the way his face had shown clear signs of panic for a moment was enough for another round of laughter from his younger brother.

* * *

"It can cut through all things without the blade getting dull," Castiel explained when Dean had opened his present and wasn't looking as amazed as the angel had thought he would be, "The man in the suit said that there was only a limited supply of those, as well."

"Thanks, Cas," Dean replied with an amused smile, "And no more infomercials for you!"

In fact, he had already started to think that the angel might have been watching too many late night commercials when Balthazar had received the tie everybody would be happy to have, Bobby had uncovered the only book you'll ever need, Jody had opened the box holding the lipstick every woman wants and Sam and Gabriel had gotten a board game that promised to be guaranteed fun and a bonding experience for the entire family. Oh, the presents weren't half bad, but Castiel was taking the slogans that came with the products far too seriously. It was cute how the angel's eyes lit up as everyone thanked him for the wonderful gifts, though.

It soon became all too clear that the majority of all presents under the tree were for Gabriel, however. Apparently, they had all decided that spoiling the baby rotten wouldn't do him any harm and the younger Winchester couldn't say anything against it, because he might have gone a little overboard with the toys and clothes he had bought, too.

Balthazar of course had to be the one who really overdid it, though. The Calvin Klein suit in baby size was just the icing on the cake, too. Well, the cherry on top of the cake had to be the bright white angel wings that were now attached to the back of Gabriel's shirt and made the infant look like he might have belonged right next to their Cas tree topper.

Before the evening was over Bobby was sporting his new trucker's hat the sheriff had bought for him and Jody had the new scarf the older hunter had gotten her wrapped around her neck while the two Winchesters and the two adult angels were dutifully wearing the sweaters Sheriff Mills had gifted to them.

Wasn't it good to know that saying something was a tradition was a surefire way to get Castiel to do anything? The older Winchester vowed that he wouldn't use this knowledge to his advantage of course and he would start with not taking advantage the next day.

"Eggnog, it's customary," Dean simply said, handing a mug to the angel.

"The human way of life is very complicated," Castiel frowned, but took the offered cup, anyway. He didn't quite understand why he got quite a few amused looks from everyone present, but he liked that his willingness to indulge in human traditions made the older Winchester as happy as it obviously did.

"Looks like we're going to bed," Sam stated a moment later, nodding toward the infant who was slowly but surely falling asleep on a pile of wrapping paper the angel wings still attached to his back. He had decided that new toys were good, but the wrappers they came in were much better and had spent quiet some time simply sitting in a pile of paper, squealing because of the rustling sounds and enjoying crawling through it before the events of the day had caught up with him and he had become tired.

The younger Winchester picked the archangel up and carried him back toward their room when Bobby stopped him and handed one more present to him with a small smile.

When Sam finally had gotten Gabriel changed into his candy cane pajamas and they had found a comfortable position on the bed – the littlest archangel had adamantly refused to go to sleep without his father by his side ever since their final fight with Raphael – the younger Winchester finally got a chance to look at his gift.

The diary was bound in black leather and seeing the dedication Bobby had written into it made Sam smile. He put the book on the bedside table and turned off the light before he just lay there, stroking Gabriel's back until they were both fast asleep.

* * *

_We really have a pretty awesome family, buddy._


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: **Thanks a lot to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, FireChildSlytherin5, midnight0211, Maddy Love Castiel, SARA1988, Shorty22133, Aoi Faith, kb18142, Pizzapig, keacdragon, Panda24, Tendencia and Hesta101 for last chapter's reviews.**  
**

I am really overwhelmed by the great response I got for the first chapter of this story. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed and favorited! You are all awesome!

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**2**

_January 22nd, 2011_

_Uncle Dean is on a mission to convince you to say his name. He thinks it isn't fair that your vocabulary (daddy, Bobo, Jody, up, yes, no and cookie) doesn't include him yet and he is determined that you'll say 'Dean' before you even think of saying 'Cas' or whatever name you'll give to Balthazar. Honestly, I think you enjoy the attention your uncle is giving you quite a lot, so I'm not interfering there._

* * *

"Dean," the older Winchester repeated very slowly, sitting in front of his nephew, staring at the baby like he wanted to hypnotize him into saying the word.

Dean had waited for weeks to hear the infant say his name, but it seemed like his stupid brother just wasn't talking about him often enough while he was on a hunt or simply not with them. Of course, Sam denied that he was preventing Gabriel from learning his beloved uncle's name vehemently and claimed that he was telling the baby stories about his uncle's adventures ever so often.

Once again, Gabriel only squealed happily and gave his uncle a wide grin, but remained silent otherwise.

"Dean," the adult said again, even more slowly, "Come on, cookie is a longer word and you say that all the time!"

Yeah, the squab had learned to say cookie before he had even thought about learning his uncle's name. How unfair was that? Not to mention that he had started to say Jody's name some time before Christmas! Sam had tried to reassure his brother by saying that as things were Sheriff Mills simply was around more often than Dean and she probably was as interesting to Gabriel as she was, because she was the only woman around. The older Winchester was the only uncle around and that didn't seem to count for anything, though!

"Cookie!" the baby archangel yelled enthusiastically and immediately got to his hands and knees, moving into the general direction of the kitchen.

The kid knew what he wanted and where he would get it, Dean had to give him that. He also was too cute to stay mad at, but the older Winchester would never admit that out loud. He'd rather bite his own tongue off, thank you very much.

"Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean," the human basically chanted as he walked to the kitchen next to his little nephew. If the infant heard the word often enough he was bound to say it sooner or later and if he heard it while he was actually doing something else it might enter his subconscious mind and come out again when prompted later. That was how psychology worked, right?

"Are you doing your own theme song now?" Sam chuckled once the pair arrived at their destination, "Pretty sure the ghosts and monsters will be very impressed."

The older Winchester hadn't even realized that somewhere along the way he must have started to say his name to the Batman theme tune. Great, now he had given his younger brother something to tease him with in addition to his nephew not learning how to say his name. The day was getting better and better!

"You're just jealous, because it doesn't work with 'Sam'," Dean shot back with a snort before he grinned mischievously, "It does with 'Sammy', though."

The demonstration of that little fact made a rather impressive bitchface appear, but it also caused Gabriel to bob up and down in the rhythm of his uncle's sing-songing and that made both Winchesters laugh. Dean couldn't help wondering if that might work with some Metallica or CCR, too. He'd have to try that sometime soon. Right after the archangel gave in and just said the one word the older Winchester wanted to hear that was.

"So, what are you two doing in the kitchen, anyway?" Sam asked after he had picked the baby up. He didn't actually expect an answer from the archangel, though. The younger Winchester knew that Gabriel was only just learning to put words to things and there was no chance that he could comprehend and answer a question like that. He could say 'yes' or 'no' to things when they were shown to him, though.

The infant cuddled up against his father's chest and planted a wet kiss on his neck, making contented noises when he got his hair stroked for it.

"I love you too, buddy," the younger Winchester smiled. Sam would be lying if he said that he didn't like how the archangel was always trying to be close to him. Sure, it was rather inconvenient at times, especially if Gabriel decided to pop up next to him no matter what he was doing at that very moment, but he hadn't done that all too often lately and it showed just how much he loved his dad. The younger Winchester was still hoping that the random appearances out of thin air would become even less frequent as the archangel's mobility grew. It looked like learning how to crawl properly had helped a little, already.

"Don't flatter yourself, mommy," Dean huffed, "He only thought of coming here when I mentioned cookies."

The older Winchester had to open a few cabinets before he found the cookie jar he was looking for – he wasn't around that often and things around the house had changed in the past months, after all – but when he had finally located it he took two cookies out and wiggled one in front of his nephew's face.

"Dean," he said once more and groaned when all he got back was a yelled 'cookie'. He handed the treat to the baby before he could start to complain anyway, though. Dean had planned to just stay for a couple of days until a new hunt came up, but he thought he might have to stay longer to reach the goal he had set for the visit. Or he might decide to shorten the time he spent being played for a sucker by his nephew.

"Good cookies," the older Winchester stated around his mouthful and went to get another one. Gabriel was still busy chewing around on the one he had handed him before, so he would just have to eat the second one he had gotten out of the jar himself, too.

"They're cookies for babies," Sam replied matter-of-factly, "And Jody bakes them for him."

It looked like Gabriel had the sheriff wrapped around his little finger just as tightly as the rest of them. The younger Winchester was pretty sure that the moment the archangel had first said her name the woman had become his willing slave.

"Seriously?" Dean asked, smiling brightly, "That's awesome. She's a real keeper. When's Bobby gonna marry her?"

The younger Winchester could have sung a song about unresolved sexual tension and Bobby and Jody, but the older hunter had made sure that he understood that any comments into that direction were rather unwelcome, so he was holding himself back. He didn't want to be hit over the back of his head so often he forgot his own name, after all.

"I thought you had called dibs on that," Sam pointed out instead, "As soon as you were ready to settle down that is."

Dean shrugged and got himself and Gabriel one more cookie each. If Jody continued to bake awesome things like the cookies and the pies she had brought before, he might have to seriously consider doing that and then Bobby would be sorry for not acting sooner.

"Dean," the older Winchester addressed his nephew again all of a sudden, trying to surprise the baby enough that he might forget that he didn't want to say the word. He could admit that he was getting a little desperate here.

"Bobo!" Gabriel exclaimed instead.

"Hey, I'm like forty years too young for that!" Dean protested and realized his mistake when he got a none too gentle pat on the head and a muttered 'idjit' from behind his back. It just wasn't his day…

* * *

"Alright, you don't have to say my name," the older Winchester told his nephew later that afternoon, "I just won't say your name anymore, either."

Gabriel just tilted his head and grabbed Dean's outstretched hand, sucking on one of his fingers for as long as his uncle would let him. The human's tolerance for that little game was used up the moment the infant's teeth made an appearance and he quickly pulled his hand away, startling the baby who immediately voiced his discontentment with loud wails.

"Dean," Sam sighed, picking up the plush angel that still was one of Gabriel's favorite toys and handing it to the infant to calm him down. He still was of the opinion that there were two babies in the house as soon as his older brother walked back into the door after another finished hunt or whenever he decided to drop by. Granted, Dean was less likely to act out too much when Castiel was around, too. Unfortunately the angel had some heavenly business to tend to, however.

"He bit me!" Dean stated defensively, but patted the infant's head for a few moments right afterward and promised, "You're still my favorite nephew, Gabe."

Not to mention the baby was his only nephew and most likely the only one he'd ever get. It didn't look like Sam even considered making women a part of his new life as well, anyway.

"Maybe you should try not to pressure him," the younger Winchester shrugged, "He started saying everything else randomly, just because he felt like it."

Sam could understand his brother's wish. Hell, he had been ecstatic when Gabriel had uttered his first 'dada' and Bobby and Jody had clearly been very happy when they had first heard their names out of the baby's mouth, as well.

"Me? Put pressure on him?" Dean asked innocently, "I'm Mr. Patience!"

They both knew that that was a lie, but the younger Winchester could let that slide, if it meant that his brother would shut up about it for a moment. Maybe the constant tries to make Gabriel say Dean's name didn't annoy the baby, but they were quite tiresome to Sam. Oh, the first hundred times had been fun, but it had grown old soon afterward.

"Hello Dean," Castiel suddenly appeared right next to the Winchesters and made them both jump slightly with it. There was no getting used to that sort of entrance. Sure, they were bouncing back from the urge to draw a gun or a knife on the intruder much quicker than they had years earlier, but they still were all too surprised when one of the angels simply popped in. It didn't help that Castiel's understanding of the concept of personal space hadn't improved by much.

The angel seemed completely oblivious to the fact that he had just given his friends a scare as he looked toward his baby brother who was squealing happily and pulling himself up on the couch, extending the hand he didn't need to hold himself upright toward Castiel.

"It seems your coordination, muscular strength and balance is improving quite rapidly," the dark-haired angel told the baby very seriously before he followed the silent demand and picked him up.

"Only his speech isn't," Dean muttered, "What do you want, Cas?"

The younger Winchester shook his head slightly. Of course, his brother just couldn't let it go. Sam hadn't told Dean, but he had really tried to teach Gabriel to say his uncle's name before, but the infant had stubbornly refused to say that or the shortened version – De – even for him.

"I have located a vampire nest in Delaware," Castiel replied, not taking his eyes off the infant as he spoke to Dean, "I thought you might appreciate the chance to _use your machete before it gets rusty_."

It was quite obvious by the way he angel had pronounced the last few words that they had had a conversation like this before and it was possible that Castiel had actually spent time searching for a vampire nest just to make Dean happy. Sam couldn't help to grin slightly at that thought.

"Seeing a few heads roll sounds great just about now," the older Winchester stated with a definitely grateful undertone, "Thanks, Cas."

That meant that they would all get a break of the ongoing name-wars for a couple of days or possibly weeks even. Of course, Gabriel just had to use one of the last chances he would get to rile his uncle up some more, though.

"Cas," the archangel shouted happily, bouncing in his brother's arms excitedly.

Dean's look was downright murderous for a moment which prevented Sam from even chuckling. Gabriel's timing, as good as it was most of the time, downright sucked in this case.

"I'll be ready to go in a few," the older Winchester simply announced and went to pack his bag without saying anything more. He wasn't going to get wound up about this. He wasn't going to read anything into it, either. He was just going to chop off the heads of a couple of vampires instead. That started to sound better and better!

"I don't understand," Castiel frowned deeply, "Why would it upset Dean that my brother is using the same shortened form of my name that he is?"

Sam just shrugged. He wasn't going to explain that to the angel. Hell, Cas was probably going to hear a rant about it once the two of them were driving to Delaware, anyway.

It wasn't long afterward that the older Winchester and the angel were saying their goodbyes and Sam and Gabriel stood by the door waving.

"Dean!" the littlest archangel yelled after the Impala.

The younger Winchester didn't know if he should laugh or cry. Actually, it was an easy choice, after all. Laughing it was.

"Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean, Dean," Gabriel repeated over and over, obviously very pleased with himself and with the reaction he had gotten from his father.

"We are going to call uncle Dean for his birthday," Sam told the baby sternly even as he tousled his hair, "And you are going to repeat this then! You hear me?"

* * *

_Lesson learned today? You can make the trickster a baby, but you can't make the baby not a trickster._


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, musicfiend2392, FireChildSlytherin5, Maddy Love Castiel, Panda24, Pizzapig, Tendencia, keacdragon, Avalonemyst, SARA1988, kb18142 and CherylB1964 for last chapter's reviews.**  
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**3**

_March 24th, 2011_

_Today is your first birthday. Uncle Dean chose the date. March 24th used to be the feast day for the archangel Gabriel before it got combined with the ones for Michael and Raphael. The new one wasn't really an option, for obvious reasons._

_Uncle Dean and Castiel are taking the day off so they can celebrate with you and Balthazar would have liked to plan the entire party, if Bobby had let him. I have to admit I am glad that Bobby put his foot down in this matter. I am not sure how you would have reacted to caviar instead of a cake, but I am pretty sure uncle Dean would have thrown a tantrum._

* * *

Sam had started to feel seriously guilty about Jody cooking for them quite frequently and her definitely doing all the baking, so he was attempting to help whenever he could these days. He figured it wouldn't hurt to actually know how a few of the things Gabriel loved to eat were made, anyway. He couldn't complain that he had too little to do ever since he had sworn off active hunting duty, there was always someone calling for some help with research and things like that, but he thought he could take the time to broaden his horizon some still.

Besides, Jody was very interested in stories about hunts and all the facts about the most popular supernatural creatures Sam could tell her, so they both got something out of the time they spent together in the kitchen. The younger Winchester never commented on it, but he was quite sure that Sheriff Mills' main reason for wanting to know all these things was that she wanted to understand the world they – especially Bobby – were dealing with day in day out a little better.

"A vampire attack, but with bite-marks straight out of the movies," Jody repeated the information the tall man next to her had just given her, trying to make sense of it, "A werewolf that doesn't remove the heart of the victim and a mummy from a fake sarcophagus."

Sam nodded in confirmation and went on cutting vegetables into pieces that Gabriel should have no problems eating once they were cooked.

Castiel had arrived a little while earlier and was standing next to the high chair the baby was sitting in, watching him as the younger Winchester had requested. Gabriel's joyful 'Cas' when his brother had made his entrance had even brought a small smile to the angel's lips.

"Usually, I'd go with 'serial killer'," Jody shrugged, turning the heat on one of the burners down a notch and taking a look at the chicken to make sure it would be done with the rest of their meal, "But I suppose that's not what you wanted to hear."

Sam nodded slightly and was about to reply when Gabriel took one of his toy cars and threw them to the floor in front of Castiel's feet. The angel looked at his brother quizzically, but picked the toy up and gave it back to the baby immediately.

"Actually, it was…" the younger Winchester began, but trailed off when the archangel took the same car and threw it to the floor once again only to have it picked up by Castiel a moment later.

"A shapeshifter," Sam finished, "One of the craziest ones we've ever had to deal with too and that really means something."

In the meantime Gabriel had managed to throw his toy to the floor three more times and Castiel had returned it to him three times, as well. The adult angel didn't show any signs of annoyance and he hadn't made any sort of comment, either. He simply bowed down and picked the car up for the fourth time.

"Shapeshifter," Jody repeated, nodding thoughtfully, "Let me guess, silver?"

Silver sounded like something that was hardly ever wrong with any sort of supernatural being, just like salt and holy water. The sheriff knew of a few exceptions already, but when they were talking about something new her first guess always was one of those three things.

The toy car had made four more trips to the floor and Castiel still showed no signs of wanting to end this little game of 'go fetch' his baby brother was playing with him.

"Yeah and decapitation," Sam shrugged, "Works for most corporeal things."

Jody nodded, filing the information away for future use.

Their meal was ready just a few minutes later, so all they had to do was waiting for Dean and Bobby to return from the city.

"Which one of them will give up first?" Sheriff Mills asked in a conspiratorial whisper just as the toy car landed next to Castiel's shoe again. She had to say that most adults she knew would have simply taken the toy away much earlier, but then again the angel wasn't like any other adult she knew. He was an angel, for crying out loud!

"Ten say Gabe will grow bored before Cas even starts to question what he's doing there," the younger Winchester stated in a low voice.

Seven minutes later the rumble of the Impala's engine announced that Dean and Bobby had returned, Sam and Jody had counted another twenty three times the toy car had been thrown to the floor and picked up again and Gabriel was finally showing signs of losing interest in the game.

"Daddy, up!" the littlest archangel demanded, making grabbing motions toward his father and earning the younger Winchester ten dollars with it. Castiel tilted his head in confusion when the sheriff handed the bill over to Sam, but didn't comment and just picked the toy up one last time.

* * *

"You guys skipped choir practice a few times too often," Dean commented with a grin.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Gabriel shouldn't have sounded like they were collectively trying to strangle a bunch of cats, thinking that they had two adult angels singing with them. Then again, of all the angels they knew there were barely any that might have fit into a heavenly choir to begin with.

"I dropped out of the choir right around the time I stopped taking harp lessons," Balthazar deadpanned which got a chuckle out of Jody and an amused smile from Sam.

Castiel didn't seem to understand the joke, however. The younger Winchester wondered – not for the first time – what exactly his brother and the angel were talking about in the hours they spent on the road together. Most pop culture references still went straight over his head and he didn't seem any less socially awkward. Then again, Dean probably just wasn't the most patient teacher and he surely didn't try to educate Cas about a wide variety of things. He probably would be content if the angel started to identify the songs and bands from his tapes and knew a couple of details about the Impala.

"Did you find my singing unappealing?" Castiel asked, slightly puzzled, "You were full of praise at the karaoke establishment."

Dean pulled a face even before the first chuckles could be heard. He really needed to teach the angel what topics were suitable for discussing in public or around their family and which weren't! Actually, the older Winchester had thought that Castiel had understood that after the speech Dean had given to him after the motel clerk had asked if they wanted a king or two queens and the angel had told him that a single bed would be completely satisfactory.

"Dude! You went to a karaoke bar?" Sam asked between chuckles.

Gabriel was looking at everyone around, clearly not understanding what was so funny, but content enough to just assume that it had been great as he started to gurgle happily, too.

"All the victims had been there the night before they vanished," Dean explained matter-of-factly. It wasn't like they hadn't visited all sorts of strange establishments before when they had been on the one or the other case.

"And you ended up sampling Cassy's singing, because…" Balthazar prompted with a smirk on his face.

"The signs said that there would be free shots with every song," Castiel replied before Dean could have said anything, "When Dean expressed an interest on taking them up on the offer I was intrigued, as well."

The entire room went eerily quiet for a short moment before everyone was laughing again. So, not only had the older Winchester taken his angelic hunting companion to a karaoke bar, they both had sung at least one song while they had been at it, too!

"What did you sing?" Jody asked politely, but definitely curious.

Dean quickly grabbed the present he had brought for Gabriel and held it in front of the infant's nose. He knew the answer to that one and if Castiel decided to answer the same way he had when the older Winchester had asked him why he had chosen that song, he thought that some distraction was needed.

"Look, Shorty, uncle Dean got you a little something," he told the baby and more or less forced his younger brother's attention to return to his son and the present when he basically just dropped it into his lap.

"Ramble on," Castiel finally answered the question with a small smile, "It is one of Dean's favorite songs and I thought it would lighten his mood."

Jody didn't need to actually make a sound to let the older Winchester know that the 'aww' had been on the tip of her tongue. Sam, Bobby and Balthazar were just amused all over again. Why did he come to visit those jerks as regularly as he did again? The only thing he would give them a little credit for was not asking if he had sung as well and what song he had chosen.

"Dean, Dean!" Gabriel yelled excitedly and brought everyone's attention back to himself with it.

The younger Winchester had unwrapped the present for the littlest archangel and had just shown the leather jacket in baby size to him. Apparently, the baby liked the present a lot, though Sam supposed he was just fascinated by the way the material felt when he touched it and he might have noticed the angel wings that were printed on the back.

Gabriel let his father dress him in his new jacket without complaints and brought the smile back on his uncle's lips with it. It also helped that the others also handed their presents over and everything about karaoke singing angels and hunters was forgotten again.

* * *

"Do you ever miss it?" Dean asked his brother later that evening when they were both standing outside to get a minute to just talk between the two of them.

Gabriel had received enough new toys that he wouldn't even notice they were gone until bedtime Sam supposed. Balthazar knew how to keep his baby brother busy for quite some time, too.

"Huh?" the younger Winchester asked with a frown before the meaning of the question hit him and he shrugged lightly, "I miss you sometimes."

He knew it had been the wrong thing to say even before he had said it.

"Thanks for that insight, Samantha," Dean shot back teasingly, but he looked a little pleased, nevertheless.

That the older Winchester's reaction hadn't been more mockingly spoke for the fact that he probably felt the same way. Not that he'd ever admit it.

"You know what I mean, Dean," Sam replied with one of his more impressive bitchfaces firmly in place, "We've spent basically every day together for nearly all our lives before."

Silence fell between them, but it was a rather comfortable silence. It wouldn't have been nice to hear that the fact that they were separated more often than not these days hadn't left any sort of impression on the younger Winchester. It wouldn't have been nice to hear that he was longing to go back to how things had been and Gabriel was holding him back either, though.

"But I'm happy as things are and I'm glad to know that you've got Cas with you most of the time," Sam added after a short pause, looking at his brother's profile, trying to read everything he wouldn't be caught dead saying out loud from his face.

The older Winchester looked as much at ease as he would probably ever get. It surely helped that no new threats to the world as a whole had surfaced lately, but Sam liked to think that his brother was simply content with his life, as well.

They spent a few more minutes simply standing on the front porch, bickering about the fact that Gabriel still didn't have enough cool clothes to go along with his new leather jacket and about the karaoke incident when the older Winchester stupidly reminded his brother of it again. Both Winchesters ended up laughing heartily when Dean told the entire story of Castiel first getting intrigued by the concept of karaoke to the point where he had looked like a deer caught in the headlights when he had realized that people would be looking at him once he was on stage.

The silent flutter of wings was the only warning they got before Sam once more had his arms full with a slightly cranky and sleepy infant. He was still wearing his leather jacket, but he was also holding and chewing on the plush hamster Bobby had bought for him.

"Night, daddy," Gabriel grumbled, huddling closer to his father's chest and pulling on his hair commandingly until the younger Winchester's full attention was on him and he got cuddled like he deserved.

"You'll still be here tomorrow morning, right?" Sam asked his brother, because they hadn't actually spoken about the plans he and Castiel might have made.

Dean huffed out an amused breath, looking at how his giant of a little brother was being played by a baby and nodded. Hey, there was some cake still and he had nowhere else he should get to as quickly as possible, so he'd stay another day or two.

"Say 'Good night uncle Dean'," the younger Winchester whispered to the archangel who only burrowed his face in the soft and well worn flannel of his father's shirt and muttered, "Night, Dean."

"See you tomorrow morning, buddy," Dean replied with a chuckle, petting his nephew's hair for a moment before Sam took him inside.

* * *

_I'll tell you the truth, Gabe. Of course, I miss being on the road with uncle Dean sometimes, but I'd miss you more… all the time._


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: **Thanks a lot to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Keefer, Imapala67-Ilana, midnight0211, FireChildSlytherin5, Maddy Love Castiel, Tendencia, keacdragon, kb18142, CherylB1964, Avalonemyst, Pizzapig and Panda24 for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

You make my days with your reviews :-D

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**4**

_May 6th, 2011_

_It's been months since you learned how to crawl and weeks since you started to take your first steps and I really don't know why I haven't thought of taking you to a playground earlier._

* * *

There was no way sitting in a sandbox was comfortable. It wasn't due to Sam's tall frame which made a lot of things rather uncomfortable, either. Sand just always found a way to get under your clothes, in your shoes and everywhere where you generally didn't want it.

Gabriel was digging around with his bare hands so happily that the younger Winchester forgot everything about the negative sides of sitting in a sandbox immediately, though.

The playground wasn't exactly packed with people, but there were quite a few other children there. Gabriel hadn't shown much of an interest in the other kids, however. Well, he probably just wasn't at an age where he would know what to do with them and the novelty of having another kid around had probably worn off during that one week the littlest archangel had spent with Elizabeth and her son.

Sam was one of the only grown men around, but it was 10 a.m. and most of the adults around were either mothers or nannies. Apparently, there weren't that many stay at home dads in Sioux Falls. They hadn't taken their kids to the playground at 10 a.m. that Friday, anyway.

To tell the truth, the younger Winchester had been a little nervous about taking Gabriel to a public place like this. Sure, they went shopping together every now and then, but they simply walked through a store, got the things they wanted and left again then. He also took him for walks regularly, but there weren't many people who walked around the paths close to Bobby's house.

At the playground they would be out in the open for everyone to see with other children and adults around and even if Sam didn't think of any supernatural threats, a lot of things might happen. He had to accept that he couldn't keep the toddler wrapped in cotton candy for all his life, though. So, if some other kid should throw sand at his son or something alike he'd just have to be a good dad, deal with it and calm the toddler down again.

Sam chuckled silently at the realization that his biggest worry right now actually was that some other child might accidentally upset Gabriel and that was barely life-threatening.

"What are you digging that hole for, Gabe?" the younger Winchester asked after a few moments of silently watching him dig. He knew that he probably sounded very silly when he kept talking to the toddler like that, but he also liked to encourage him to listen, talk and pick up new words.

Gabriel looked at his father like he was honestly considering his answer before he just exclaimed, "Fun!"

It was most likely more of a coincidence that the answer had fit the question that well, but Sam gave the toddler a wide smile and tousled his blonde hair for a moment before he let him go back to work uninterrupted again.

The archangel reached the bottom of the sandbox much too fast for his liking and pouted, looking at his father like he expected him to magically make the sand go deeper. The pouting turned to complaining when nothing happened for a few moments too long.

"Look Shorty," the younger Winchester stated in a soft tone and shoveled some sand back into the hole with his right hand, "Now you can keep digging."

The toddler titled his head in a way that was eerily similar to Castiel's and started to help his father close the hole again instead. Getting his hands full of sand was the main factor in this game being fun, anyway.

Sam shook his head amusedly and grabbed the bag he had brought along to get one of Gabriel's toy cars and some molds he had bought a while ago for exactly this sort of occasion.

"Give me!" the toddler yelled excitedly, pointing at the molds.

He had learned using that one term very quickly and it was turning into his number one favorite things to say, too. It worked pretty well with a few of the other words he knew, too. Give me cookie, for example.

The younger Winchester wondered – not for the first time – when children learned to have some sort of volume control. It seemed like Gabriel was always either yelling or being quiet, there basically was no in between. Oh well, his yelling was bearable and Sam would rather hear him talk loudly than discourage him from saying anything.

"Let me show you," the tall human suggested after watching his little son just bang the molds to the ground for a little while. He took the one shaped like a fish, filled it with sand and tipped it over so they had a perfect sand fish in front of them.

Gabriel looked at the fish and then at his father in awe. When he tried to grab the animal the sand just fell apart under his hands, however. The wailing didn't come unexpected, but it still was tugging on all of Sam's heartstrings.

The younger Winchester shuffled a little closer to the toddler, making soothing noises as he brushed the remains of the fish away, filled the form again and quickly made a new one.

"Look, Gabe. The great thing about sand is, we can just remake these things any time we want," he told his son, rubbing his back with one hand until he was silent again.

They spent the next few minutes testing the other molds and destroying the figures again just to rebuild them. Sam would be lying if he said that he wasn't quite proud watching how the little one learned how to fill the forms with the right amount of sand before they turned them over together.

"Well, isn't that a heartwarming scene?" Crowley's voice broke the peaceful silence between the pair. The demon stuck out like a sore thumb at the playground in his entirely black outfit. It didn't help that he was a middle aged man who didn't have a child with him, either. Then again seeing Crowley with a little kid would have felt even creepier to the younger Winchester.

"I hope you're not usually hanging out at playgrounds," Sam commented dryly.

Gabriel shuffled on the ground until he was facing the other way and could take a better look at the king of hell. The younger Winchester wasn't surprised that the toddler smiled and made happy noises, but he still couldn't understand what exactly his son saw in the demon.

"The hellhounds need to be taken for a walk every now and then," Crowley stated casually and looked clearly amused when the younger Winchester looked around frantically, as if he really expected to see any mothers or children being eaten by hellhounds.

"Up, up!" Gabriel demanded, stretching his arms toward the king of hell.

This time both Sam and Crowley looked taken aback. The demon was quicker and better at masking his surprise, though. He raised an eyebrow at the human who clearly wanted to shoot the toddler's demand down.

"I'll play nice, promise," the king of hell stated with the sort of devilish smile that did nothing to ease the younger Winchester's nerves.

Gabriel was nothing if not determined, however. The toddler pulled himself up on the edge of the sandbox and reached for the demon once more, repeating his wish again and again.

Sam sighed deeply, but gave Crowley a tight nod before he stood up and tried to wipe the sand off his jeans as much as possible. He was quite confident that Gabriel wouldn't be easy to abduct and the king of hell would have to be very stupid to even try it, but it still didn't feel good to watch Crowley pick the toddler up.

The archangel giggled happily and squirmed around a little to get the king of hell to hold him the way he wanted to be held. That meant he wanted to be close enough to grab his face and he wanted to be able to kick his little feet against the demon's chest, making sure that most of the sand of his shoes got transferred to his suit. Gabriel probably didn't do any of that on purpose, but Sam still had to smirk when as he watched the scene.

The younger Winchester's mood improved even a little more when it became clear that the archangel wanted to reach for the demon's eyes with his thoroughly sandy hands. That couldn't be comfortable even for a hellish creature and a not too little part of Sam hoped that Gabriel would succeed.

"Aren't you a delightful little fellow?" Crowley stated, his voice just a little tighter than usually as he fought the archangel's little hands off, but growing a little frustrated with having to be very careful about it quickly, "Yes, they are black and they won't change color when you touch them."

The king of hell wasn't too worried that the archangel would smite him on the spot, if he upset him a little, but he had intended to leave a good impression with the toddler and making him cry wouldn't help with that.

"Oh, go back to your giraffe!" Crowley huffed when Gabriel simply wouldn't abandon his quest to get the demon as sandy as possible and started to go for his mouth instead of his eyes.

Sam chuckled as he opened his arms and hugged the slightly puzzled toddler to his chest. So, Crowley thought that Gabriel could somehow see his true form, or parts of it. That was interesting to know and the younger Winchester thought he should have a talk about this possibility with either Castiel or Balthazar soon. He hadn't asked too many questions about the archangel's powers, figuring they would cross that bridge when they got to it. He was really curious now, though. He knew he would never see the world the same way his son did, but he hoped to at least understand some of the differences there were.

"Did you actually want anything?" Sam asked when Crowley didn't just disappear again.

"Can't a man just want to go to a playground?" the king of hell asked with the best impression of innocence he could muster up. Granted, it didn't look very innocent at all, but it had been a very long time since he had had even a shred of innocence left.

"Creepers who like to pretend to walk their invisible dogs so they can get close to little boys generally shouldn't be around playgrounds but deserve a very special place in hell," the younger Winchester countered in a rather casual tone, setting Gabriel down into the sandbox at the toddler's request again.

"They have one," Crowley replied casually before he added with a smirk, "Incidentally it's the same place where we send the souls of the evil children for a fieldtrip once a year."

Sam pulled a face his brother would have dubbed a bitchface at that tasteless joke. He hoped it was a joke, anyway. Damn, he actually really didn't want to know.

"Daddy!" Gabriel yelled in a demanding tone. He had filled all the molds they had abandoned in the sand earlier again and now he needed help getting the figures to the ground.

The younger Winchester only looked away from the demon for a moment, but when he turned around again he was already gone. Well, that counted as a good thing.

Sitting back down on the edge of the sandbox next to Gabriel, Sam helped the archangel with his toys while he still tried to make sense of the king of hell's visit. The most likely explanation he could come up with was that Crowley tried to make sure that the toddler grew up to like him well enough not to smite him, if his angelic nature should ever take over. That would mean that there might be more visits like that unfortunately, though. Still, it wasn't the worst reason for a surprise visit he could think of.

"You just had to befriend him," the younger Winchester clicked his tongue, keeping his tone light, however. There was no use crying over spilt milk and there was no use scolding Gabriel for something he had done completely out of instinct while he had been a little baby.

At least, they could finally get back to simply playing in the sand.

* * *

"Did you actively try to take the entire sandbox with you," Sam commented as he gently washed the toddler's hair.

They had returned to Bobby's for a quick lunch and a much needed bath for the very sandy archangel. At least, Gabriel enjoyed baths as much as he enjoyed getting dirty, so getting him cleaned up again usually wasn't much of a problem.

"Did you like the playground, Gabe?" the younger Winchester asked after the toddler was done splashing around in the tub and was ready to get wrapped into a towel and put into clean clothes.

"Yes!" Gabriel yelled enthusiastically, kicking his legs a little for emphasis.

Sam smiled and pressed a short kiss to his son's head.

* * *

_I'd like to end this entry with some sort of life lesson we learned today, but I still got sand at places I don't want to mention and I really need a shower. Maybe that is a good lesson, though. Sand gets freaking everywhere!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Maddy Love Castiel, Panda24, Tendencia, midnight0211, CherylB1964, FireChildSlytherin5, Keefer, kb18142, keacdragon, Avalonemyst and Pizzapig for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

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**5**

_October 31st, 2011_

_Halloween. Gabe, I could tell you things about Halloween… To make it short, it's not a holiday I like too much. It probably comes with the line of work our family is in that seeing lots of witches, ghosts and vampires running around the streets loses all appeal._

_But there's all the candy and the entire 'trick or treat' thing that I just know you'll love and who am I to keep you away from things that are in your nature?_

* * *

"It looks really great," Sam chuckled, looking at the toddler who was crawling around in his Halloween costume, "Thanks, Jody."

The sheriff smiled and held out the empty plastic bucket with the black bat on it that she had brought along for the littlest Winchester. She had to admit that she did enjoy getting involved in the upbringing of the child, even though she'd sometimes get teary-eyed about the one thing or the other when Gabriel reminded her of her own son too much. Luckily Bobby usually had a tissue for her when that happened.

"Come here, buddy," Sam crouched down and held his arms open for his little boy to come over to him, "Let's take a picture for uncle Dean!"

The younger Winchester stood straight with the toddler against his hip, both of them smiling for the camera dutifully as Sheriff Mills snapped the picture. Taking photos was something they had done a lot lately, anyway. There was an entire album filled with pictures of Gabriel since he had been around seven months old, already.

It was a perfectly normal thing to do and even though Sam knew perfectly well that the archangel would never be a completely normal kid, he still wanted to give him as many of the ordinary experiences as he could. That also was a part of the reason why he had decided to give Halloween a chance.

"Unca Dean!" Gabriel yelled joyfully, kicking his legs, "Cas! Baba!"

The toddler had started to call Balthazar 'Baba' a couple weeks ago when the angel had paid them another visit, bringing sweets and presents from the exotic location he had chosen to stay in that month as he basically always did. Well, Balthazar's full name wasn't that easy to say and Gabriel was still calling Bobby 'Bobo', anyway.

"Alright, we'll send Cas and Balthazar a picture, too," Sam agreed and handed his cell phone over to Jody, so she could snap another picture that he could send them to their phones then.

It was nice that the three angels were establishing a family bond between them and the younger Winchester really thought that Gabriel would learn to appreciate that even more than he did now once he grew older. They all were rather grateful that the other angels didn't show an interest in visiting the littlest archangel, though.

Oh dear, Sam just hoped that Crowley wouldn't pop in for a visit while they were out asking for sweets. Halloween and the king of hell would go together nicely, after all.

"I'm nearly feeling a little bad about going out," the younger Winchester mused after he had put his son back on the floor, so he could waddle around a little and then go on crawling when he eventually fell down, "There are probably going to be a lot of calls. Bobby's going to be damn busy."

Sam had noticed that while Gabriel's speech was very good for his age his motor skills weren't all that developed. It probably didn't help that he simply zapped himself places when reaching them otherwise seemed too strenuous to him, especially the past few weeks had seen an increase in that sort of behavior. The younger Winchester had decided to be content knowing that everything was okay with the little one – both Castiel and Balthazar had repeatedly said that he was perfectly healthy – and just let him find his own speed for learning things. All kids were different after all and if Gabriel was more of a talker than he wanted to work on his muscular strength then that wasn't even all too surprising.

"Sam Winchester, are you trying to get me to offer to stay here to help tonight?" Jody asked with faked indignation before she added jokingly, "I am not sure Bobby would appreciate your playing matchmaker."

Sam tried not to look like he had been caught red handed, but he wasn't sure if it worked that well. The sheriff was laughing anyway and that was a pretty good sign that she was okay with it, either way.

"Can't blame a guy for trying," the younger Winchester stated innocently, "But if you want to wait for Dean to be ready to settle down…"

Well, that might never happen, to begin with. Somehow Sam could see his brother just going on driving across the country with Castiel for the rest of his life and Dean would probably be very happy with that, too.

"Oh, go and send those pictures already and then get lost before all the good sweets have been taken!" Jody shot back in a tone that didn't allow any objections.

The younger Winchester nodded dutifully and picked Gabriel up before he went to retrieve his jacket. They were out of the house a couple minutes later after making only one more short stop to send a message to Dean, Castiel and Balthazar.

* * *

"Come on, Shorty. Say it for uncle Dean," the younger Winchester said in an encouraging tone. He had put the cell phone on speaker as soon as his brother had called to talk about how stupid Halloween was, even if Gabriel's costume was great.

Sam had parked the car close to the main street where they would start their hunt for sweets as soon as the talk was over and the archangel was still sitting in his car seat, looking at the cell phone.

"Okay, let's say it together. How's that?" the younger Winchester suggested when his son remained stubbornly quiet, "I am-"

"Batman!" Gabriel finally yelled at the same moment his father said the word in a loud enough tone that Dean had to hold his phone a little further away from his ear on the other end of the line.

The toddler had learned to speak very quiet and rather loud in addition to quiet and very loud over time, but he still didn't seem to grasp the concept of speaking in a moderate tone. That was another thing he'd learn eventually.

"That's great, buddy," the older Winchester commented through the phone, "I nearly wish I could be there with you guys, but you know, lots of wannabe witches working rituals tonight and Cas found us a few very decent leads."

At least, Dean was going to have fun this Halloween, as well. Ever since Castiel was joining him on nearly all the hunts he did, it really was more fun than duty to the older Winchester for all it looked like. Sam was under the impression that his brother had never before enjoyed what he did more, anyway. Well, having the angel around took some of the immediate mortal danger out of all the ordinary hunts and if he got banged up a bit Castiel could heal him soon afterward. Not to mention that having the dark-haired angel around a lot was good for Dean's mood in general.

"Alright, we'd better get going," Sam told his brother, "We've got a lot of sweets to collect!"

The younger Winchester finally unbuckled his son's seatbelt and handed his little plastic bucket to him.

"Atta boy," Dean replied with a chuckle, "Go use your kid's cuteness to get free stuff. Hey, I'd have done that with you while you were still cute too, if dad had let me!"

Sam snorted before he said his goodbyes to his brother, pocketed his cell phone and lifted Gabriel out of his car seat.

Especially the younger kids and their parents were already going from house to house, but there were also quite a few unsupervised children running around. It wasn't like Sam automatically assumed that their parents were irresponsible, but he had to say that he had a hard time imagine letting the archangel go out on his own until he was much older.

They had to knock on three doors before Gabriel got on board with the idea of letting complete strangers coo at him and pinch his cheek in exchange for sweets, but when he did he really started to get into it. By the fifth door they knocked at he even started to yell 'trick or treat' at the people who opened for them, although it sounded more like 'rick eat' when he said it. The homeowners got the message anyway and the cooing and cheek pinching reached rather epic levels. They readily handed over more candy than any normal toddler should eat in a week as well, though.

"We're going to need a bigger bucket," Sam told Gabriel after the tenth house about an hour later. The littlest archangel was only getting the hang of things so the tall human really didn't want to spoil his fun by saying they were going home already, but he had to admit that he wished his son didn't hate his stroller with quite as much passion as he did. He hadn't allowed anyone to put him into the thing without throwing a tantrum ever since they had first brought it home. Obviously, Gabriel just preferred the body contact being carried everywhere gave him.

"Ask and you shall receive," Balthazar stated in an overly serious tone and handed a paper bag with a black cat painted on it that was big enough to hold the little plastic bucket and many more sweets to the younger Winchester.

"Baba!" the toddler exclaimed happily and tried to reach for the angel with both hands.

"You think your costume is very funny, don't you?" Sam asked with a raised eyebrow as he passed Gabriel over to his brother. Well, the blonde angel wouldn't be completely wrong about that, either.

"Excuse me?" Balthazar shot back, cuddling the toddler until he was giggling madly, "Are you, a mere mortal without a costume, trying to tell me that I cannot dress up as an angel of the Lord?"

The younger Winchester raised his hands in defeat. He had to admit that he had provoked this surprise visit when he had sent the picture of Gabriel's costume with the comment that they were going to go 'trick or treat'-ing. He couldn't have known that Balthazar would find it very funny to find a too big trenchcoat and suit and dress up as Castiel, though.

"Most people will think you're Columbo," Sam pointed out as they continued to walk down the street to the next house. It wasn't like anybody was going to even guess that the costume was meant to be an angel. Well, Dean, Bobby, Cas and Jody would get it, but the humor would be lost on the general public, for sure.

"I don't understand that reference," Balthazar stated completely seriously, tilting his head.

The younger Winchester just had to laugh at that and the way the angel perfectly imitated Castiel's confused expression made sure that he couldn't stop laughing until they had reached the door and the other man had knocked, already.

"Rick eat!" Gabriel yelled at the elderly lady who opened the door for them.

Sam really couldn't blame her for looking taken aback for a moment before she reached for the bowl with sweets and dropped a handful of candy into the bag the taller man was still holding.

"You are the best Batman I have seen today," the woman told the toddler, giving him a big smile that the child mirrored. Of course, every single Batman she had seen had been the best one, but it would have been impossible to choose between them, anyway.

Gabriel began to squirm even before they left the front porch of the woman and held his arms out toward Sam. "Daddy!"

The younger Winchester exchanged the bag with the sweets for his son as they turned to leave.

"What a nice family," the old lady commented behind them and while Sam looked somewhat mortified, Balthazar simply grinned.

A couple of houses later Gabriel slowly but surely started to get cranky. He had already pulled his mask off and was squirming in his father's arms to show him that this wasn't funny anymore and he wanted something to be changed about the situation.

"Alright buddy, we'll go home," Sam promised, tucking the toddler under his arm as he carried him back to their car which never failed to amuse the archangel for a little while.

"I should go back to my party, anyway," Balthazar commented with a light shrug, planting a kiss on Gabriel's forehead before the tall human put the toddler back into his car seat, "You can come along when you are a little older. Let's say eighteen plus."

Sam shook his head with a sigh, but didn't get to say anything before the angel vanished.

* * *

_Let's just say that Halloween can be a nice holiday after all… and you are never going to go to any parties with Balthazar as long as I have anything to say!_


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: **Thanks a lot to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Maddy Love Castiel, CassXDeano, Tendencia, keacdragon, FireChildSlytherin5, Keefer, midnight0211, Panda24, CherylB1964, kb18142 and Pizzapig for last chapter's reviews! You guys know how to make an Author happy! :-)**  
**

**Edit**: Thanks so much to SARA1988 for the cover art to the baby Gabe stories!

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**6**

_December 28th, 2011_

_Uncle Dean insists that I need to socialize. Alright, I haven't been out of the house without you for about one and a half years, but I fail to see the problem with that. It's not like we're hermits. We meet a lot of people when we go shopping and whenever we visit the indoors playground!_

_Anyway, one of the things about your uncle Dean is that once he has made up his mind there is not deterring him…_

* * *

"Dude, I gave you this for Christmas and I won't be around much longer, so you better make good of the coupon," the older Winchester insisted, watching his brother put the monster bowling pins Dean had gifted to Gabriel for his second Christmas up so his little nephew could knock them over with the soft bowling ball again.

The older Winchester couldn't help feeling quite smug about the fact that his present was the one the toddler had wanted to play with the most for the past three days. The plushy bowling pins in the general shape of cartoony monsters had caught his eye after a successful werewolf hunt and he had thought that Gabriel might like them. It was only a bonus that his comment about starting to train the little one as early as possible had annoyed Sam a little. His brother knew that he wasn't serious about it though, so there hadn't been any bloodshed over the topic.

"Exactly, it was a present and I get to choose how I use my presents," the younger Winchester replied, handing the bowling ball back to his son, "And I don't want to go out tonight while you babysit."

The thought behind the gift certificate the older Winchester had given to his brother had been really nice and Sam appreciated it a lot, but he didn't like being bullied into using it. Hell, he didn't try to tell Dean when exactly he was supposed to play the classic rock tapes he had found over eBay!

"The days between holidays are perfect for picking up desperate chicks, Sam," the older Winchester lectured, "They've had all of Christmas to be depressed about being alone and without a man by their side and they'll do everything not to repeat the experience with New Year's at this point!"

Besides, Dean didn't have any plans for the evening and was available for babysitting, he would leave again after New Year's – if nothing important came up before – and he didn't want to go before his brother had used his gift. The bastard might keep it for a time when Gabriel would be by far less adorable and way more rebellious otherwise, after all!

"Dean," Sam replied with a deep sigh, "I don't even know where to start with telling you how sexist and plain wrong that is."

Also, he wasn't interested in picking up any women. He just wanted to stay at home and go through the daily routines he and Gabriel had established. The younger Winchester was used to going to bed early and getting up again early these days and he was used to having his son around basically the entire time. To tell the truth he hadn't once felt the urge to change anything about that for the entire time they had spent together.

"Fine," Dean snorted, "It's true, nevertheless."

"Listen, I just don't want to," the younger Winchester tried to reason with his brother, cheering for Gabriel when he managed to knock the last one of the bowling pins over again before he went to put them back up.

"Sammy, you can't spend the next eighteen years only hanging out with him," Dean shot back reasonably, "It'll make you go crazy and give him a daddy complex to rival Michael's."

The older Winchester knew that he had won the argument when his words made his younger brother look seriously contemplative for longer than a moment.

* * *

"Whatever happened to your fixation on pudding?" the older Winchester asked his nephew with a slight frown. The pair was standing by the open fridge, looking for some sort of snack that would distract Gabriel from the fact that his father had walked out of the door a couple of minutes earlier. The toddler was grasping his uncle's hand tightly, looking up to him like he wanted to say 'Yeah, whatever did happen to all that pudding?'.

"Oh boy, does he really keep you on a healthy diet? That's cruel, buddy, just cruel," Dean announced after he had looked through the containers that apparently held the food meant for the toddler as the labels said. Alright, he knew that there was also a cookie jar and he was pretty sure that Gabriel got candy from Balthazar regularly, but he was still shocked by the predominance of healthy and reasonable edibles.

This far the littlest Winchester had stayed surprisingly calm, but he might not have noticed that his daddy was actually gone for a longer while. Dean knew better than to even mention Sam's name or the word 'daddy' around the toddler, anyway. He had learned that when his brother had been little and had always thrown a fit the moment he had been reminded of their father's absence. Well, for a while anyway. Afterward he had mostly accepted that John wasn't around that much and that his bigger brother was the go-to guy for everything.

"Okay, let's try something," Dean suggested after a moment of debating with himself whether to go for the sudden spark of ingenuity he had come up with or not. The older Winchester picked his nephew up and let him sit on the kitchen counter, so he could look directly into his eyes.

"Alright, Gabe, impress me!" Dean stated seriously, making sure that he had the toddler's complete attention as he tried to form a very clear picture in his mind. Hey, it worked for Sammy, so it might as well work for him!

Gabriel cocked his head curiously for a moment before he clapped his hands and giggled excitedly.

The older Winchester grinned widely when the cherry pie he had imagined appeared next to the archangel on the kitchen counter.

"You're awesome, kid," Dean laughed, cuddling his nephew for a moment – nobody was watching, anyway – before he carried him to the dining table and put him into his high chair. After he had gotten plates, forks, a beer for himself and Gabriel's sippy cup he sat down next to his nephew and cut himself and the toddler a big slice.

Apparently, the archangel had not yet mastered the use of cutlery, so he just started to stuff bits and pieces of the pie into his mouth with his fingers. The highly satisfied noises that came from the toddler made Dean grin like an idiot again. The little one was his nephew, alright!

The older Winchester nearly forgot eating his own pie over watching Gabriel, but when he finally took the first bite he moaned out loud. Okay, he had thought of that one special cherry pie from some diner in Utah that was the best one he had ever eaten, but he hadn't really expected that the archangel would copy the taste as perfectly as he had.

"I love you, buddy!" Dean declared around a mouthful of pie, patting the toddler's head.

After cleaning up the mess Gabriel had made the older Winchester took his nephew to wash his hands and face and put him into clean clothes. In the end, he decided to dress the archangel in his mistletoe and candy cane pajamas. It wasn't that late yet, but why go through the procedure twice if they didn't have to?

It wasn't that long until the pair found themselves in the living room again. Balthazar had organized golden and blue decorations for the tree that year, because he had taken Dean's announcement to get a Balthazar tree topper very seriously and had thought that that way everything would match. The angel had been quite right about that, too.

"Veggie Tales, Blue's clues, fucking Teletubbies?" the older Winchester groaned as he looked through the DVDs that were obviously meant for Gabriel. Dean loved his nephew, but he wasn't going to watch those with him! He really needed to make sure that the toddler got something really valuable in that department soon. Thundercats and Transformers came to mind.

"Seriously, little dude, you need better role models," the older Winchester told his nephew and decided to put 'fast and the furious' into the DVD player. There was barely any blood or sex in that movie and if he didn't turn the volume on too loud he was pretty sure that there should be nothing to could frighten the toddler in any way. Besides, Gabriel liked playing with cars.

"Pretty sure that's not what your brother would consider suitable for the squab," Bobby pointed out when he walked through the living room on his way out. His tone made clear that he wasn't all too serious about it, though. It wasn't like Dean would do anything that might scar the toddler for life, even if he didn't want to care for things like age limitations as much as his brother did.

"Yeah well, what he doesn't know…" the older Winchester replied and threw a glance toward the older hunter, "What did you get all dressed up for?"

Of course, getting dressed up in Bobby's case meant that he wasn't wearing a trucker's hat, had combed his hair and put on a pair of jeans and a shirt that Dean couldn't remember from the time when he had been a kid himself.

"Wait, don't tell me. The good sheriff invited you over to _discuss_ something," the older Winchester's grin nearly split his face in half, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do, you dog!"

Bobby groaned. As much as he loved the Winchester boys, they were just strenuous and annoying at times!

In the meantime Gabriel had caught on to the two adult's conversation and had pulled himself up on the couch cushions, so he could look at Bobby. The movie was loud and a lot of things were happening and that was why it had managed to capture his attention for a while, but the two adults were more interesting for sure.

"Your uncle is an idjit," Bobby told the toddler and ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Idit!" the archangel repeated after the older hunter and giggled when his uncle looked at him with big eyes. He sat back down and cuddled up to Dean just a moment later, anyway.

They got halfway through the movie after Bobby had left before Gabriel started to fidget and get cranky. Those were pretty clear signs that he was getting tired.

The older Winchester could smell victory on this! He'd only have to put his nephew into his crib and see that he actually fell asleep and he'd have done his duty as a babysitter without giving Sam any reasons to complain or refuse to go out ever again. The way the toddler cuddled up against his chest as he carried him to the bedroom he usually shared with his father was promising, too. He'd be asleep as soon as his head hit the pillows!

That was the part where Dean was wrong, however. As soon as Gabriel was lying in the crib he started to complain and rolled over to stand up again. The protests only grew in volume when his uncle tried to get him to lie down again.

"Daddy!" the toddler finally screamed which at least made absolutely clear what the problem was.

"Daddy will be here again tomorrow," Dean told his nephew in a soft tone, still trying to get him to calm down, "Uncle Dean is here for today."

Gabriel was outright crying at that point and the older Winchester looked around to locate either one of his angel plushies. Gabstiel and Balthazar usually worked like a spell against the toddler's tantrums.

Dean quickly went to grab one of the toys from next to Sam's bed, but the wailing stopped very abruptly before he even reached it.

* * *

"And then, all alone on Christmas Eve, I decided to make it my New Year's resolution to never spend another Christmas alone," the blonde sitting across from the younger Winchester explained and added with a flirty smile, "And then I thought, why spend New Year's alone?"

Sam smiled slightly and nodded politely. Alright, so Dean had been right about the levels of desperation some people would have around this time of the year. Hell, he had only sat down by a table and ordered a beer and the woman had come over to strike up a conversation. She seemed nice – if a little too forward – sure was attractive and at a different time Sam might have been interested, but as things were he simply wasn't feeling it. To tell the truth, he hadn't felt like picking up anybody ever since he had gotten back from the cage and it wasn't due to a lack of possibilities because he had to care of Gabriel, either.

"I'll get you another one," Hannah offered, taking the younger Winchester's empty beer bottle and making her way to the bar. Okay, she might be a little tipsy and trying to get him at least as drunk as she was. Sam added those points to the list of reasons why he would just wait another while and then go back home to deal with Dean mocking him mercilessly for not getting any. That actually sounded quite good just about now.

The younger Winchester never got to contemplate the matter any further before tiny arms wound themselves around his neck and Gabriel was cuddling against him with a silent mutter of 'daddy'. Sam probably shouldn't have felt as happy about this as he did.

"He must have fled from his babysitter," the younger Winchester explained to the understandably flabbergasted woman once she came back with their drinks. He was quite lucky that she was as tipsy as she was, because Hannah didn't question what he had just said and only looked at the way the toddler was pressing himself flat against Sam's chest like she wanted to trade places with him.

"Fast little son of a bitch," Dean commented as he came to a stop next to his younger brother mere minutes later. He had known where Sam had wanted to go and it was a safe bet where Gabriel had disappeared to, so the older Winchester had gotten into the Impala and had floored it.

"I'll just-" Dean started, but his brother cut him off with a gesture.

"It's alright, I'll take him home," Sam announced, wrapping his arms around his son more firmly as he moved to stand up. The toddler had come all the way in his pajamas to get his daddy to go home with him and the younger Winchester wasn't going to disappoint him.

"Hannah, meet my brother, Dean," Sam added with a slightly apologetic smile toward the woman before he turned to leave. Chances were his brother and Hannah were a better match, anyway.

* * *

_Bros before hoes, Gabe. I'll tell you what that means when you're older… _


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, keacdragon, Tendencia, FireChildSlytherin5, CassXDeano, CherylB1964 , Aoi Faith, Panda24, Shorty22133, kb18142 and one guest for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

Special thanks to SARA1988 for drawing the new cover picture for this story! :-)

* * *

**7**

_April 8th, 2012_

_We're getting our own house, Gabe. The place is within walking distance of Bobby's, but it'll give us all some more privacy. There is still some work to do before we can move in, but I'm sure we'll get everything done in good time._

_In other news, Balthazar thought you would enjoy celebrating the day of zombie Jesus, as he likes to call Easter. I think somebody has spent too much time on the Internet…_

* * *

"I actually can't believe it," Dean shook his head slightly, still staring at the house in front of him, "My brother is owning a house."

Sure, Sam and Gabriel had not moved to their new home, because there still was a lot of work to do on the inside and they didn't have any furniture to speak of, but it already was theirs, anyway.

"Yeah, I know," Sam chuckled, "It's surreal."

They both looked over to the garden where Gabriel was running in circles around Castiel while the angel turned his head ever so often, so he could always keep an eye on his brother. If Castiel had been an ordinary human he would have started to feel very dizzy a while ago. As things were, the toddler was the one who toppled over. The dark-haired angel picked his brother up immediately when he started to cry and was hugged tightly the moment Gabriel could reach his neck. Castiel looked very awkward when he hugged the two year old back and patted his back gently, but all in all the two of them made a very sweet picture.

"I'm surprised Bobby is letting you leave," Dean stated and then added with a smirk, "Guess he wants the guest room free for his favorite Winchester again."

To tell the truth, it had been Bobby's idea that they should get their own place, but it had also been on the older hunter's insistence that the younger Winchester had only looked for houses that were as close as possible to the salvage yard. Luckily, it turned out that there were two properties for sale that were within walking distance to Bobby's and one of those had a house on it, already.

The part Sam liked least about all of this was that Balthazar had somehow produced most of the money they needed to buy the place, but the angel had become a good friend and member of their extended family over the years and he had assured him that there were no strings attached whatsoever. The younger Winchester hadn't asked many more questions, especially after discussing the matter with Bobby who had reluctantly agreed that accepting the offered help would be for the best.

"Good to know you think of it like that," Sam shot back with a snort, "I guess that means I can make a library out of the spare room here."

The elbow that made contact with the younger Winchester's ribs none too gently was a pretty good clue about how his brother felt about that threat. They both knew that it was nothing more than an empty threat anyway, though.

"Okay, okay," Sam relented, raising his hands defensively, "But there's only one guest room, so you'll have to share with Cas. I guess one bed should do."

They both were by far too old for a little chase that ensued, but neither one of them spared a second thought to that fact until Dean had his younger brother pinned to the ground and Castiel and Gabriel were looking at them with puzzled expressions. The toddler only looked confused for a short moment before he started to giggle and squirmed around until his brother set him to the ground so he could run up to his father and uncle and throw himself onto the growing pile of Winchesters.

Sam was the one of them who got the dirtiest, but they all were laughing when they finally stood up again. Gabriel got to sit on his daddy's shoulders when they decided to walk back to Bobby's and have some coffee and pie.

"Sometimes I think you are actively trying to confuse me, Dean," Castiel admitted, still slightly puzzled by the scene he had just witnessed. He had seen the older Winchester happy quite frequently in the time they had spent together in the past years, but he rarely was as carefree as he had appeared when he had tackled his brother to the ground. The angel couldn't help thinking that the Winchesters probably were more confusing than most of humanity.

Dean wrapped an arm around the angel's shoulders and squeezed him for a moment when he thought that his younger brother wasn't watching them. "You'll get it some day, Cas."

* * *

"We made it through Christmas without talking about Santa Clause twice," Sam stated, "Do you think we could keep the Easter bunny out of Easter, too?"

Alright, Balthazar had announced his visit and he had said that he intended to give Gabriel the Easter experience, because he thought his little brother might really enjoy that. None of them had been able to disagree with that.

"Easter bunny," Jody repeated amusedly, before she frowned and looked between Bobby and Castiel to ask, "There is no such thing, right?"

The older hunter couldn't help the small grin that spread over his face. It was a cute question, after all. It was understandable that someone who only got glimpses into the supernatural world every now and then wouldn't be completely sure about something like that, though.

"Rabbits are a symbol for fertility that humans in their confusing ways chose to represent gift giving for this feast," Castiel answered completely seriously, ignoring – or not even noticing- the amused looks he got for it. The explanation settled the matter, though.

Also, if there was an Easter bunny, chances were it was like seven feet tall and eating children for breakfast. They generally kept religious and mythical figures out of everything as much as they could for exactly that reason, too. It just wasn't much fun telling cutesy stories about any of them to the toddler when they all knew how dark and twisted the real background for the tales was in most cases.

"I understand," Balthazar replied to the younger Winchester's original request, "I prefer zombie Jesus, anyway."

There was absolutely no way to tell how serious the angel had been about that and he didn't give the others any more time to think about the matter, either.

"As I see it, this is about hiding sweets for kids to try and find them," Balthazar shrugged and offered his hand to Gabriel who took it and let himself be led to the living room, "And that's exactly what I did."

Granted, he hadn't hidden anything all too well. He hadn't wanted to make this a frustrating experience for the toddler, after all.

"Zombie Jesus?" Jody mouthed toward Bobby, but the older hunter could only shrug.

Sam shook his head slightly, but grabbed his camera as he followed the others to see what exactly Balthazar had prepared. He doubted that Bobby would appreciate it too much, if it involved finding molten pieces of old chocolate all over the room in a couple of weeks or months, but the older hunter wouldn't be shy about telling the angel his opinion on that, anyway.

Balthazar bowed down to the archangel and handed him a colorful little basket and a chocolate egg in shiny foil. "You are looking for more of these. Go!"

Gabriel blinked once and cocked his head, but followed his brother's outstretched arm with his eyes and noticed that there was another one of the eggs just under the couch table, so he ran over to collect it and caught a glimpse of more hidden sweets behind the couch.

"I hope he finds all of them," Bobby grumbled, but he still smiled as he watched the joy with which the toddler ran around the room. That didn't mean he wanted to sit on one of those stupid Easter eggs the next time he was in his living room, though.

"Do you really think Gabriel will leave any chocolate for anyone else to find?" Sam chuckled, snapping a couple of pictures. Alright, it was a nice little tradition and the toddler was having a lot of fun, so that probably meant that they would celebrate Easter as well, from that year on.

"Good point," Dean replied and quickly plucked a chocolate egg from a potted plant next to him before his nephew could spot it. There was a rather real chance that the kid wouldn't want to share the fruits of his labor later on and what he didn't know couldn't upset him, anyway.

The older Winchester made a mental note to be nicer to Balthazar in the future. The angel's taste in sweets was really good and Dean wouldn't mind receiving some for whatever occasion would come up next.

"Bal," the toddler addressed his brother, stretching his arms out toward something he could see on a shelf that might have been another one of the sweets he was looking for. The angel decided to give his little brother a helping hand now that there weren't that many pieces left to find.

"Daddy look!" Gabriel yelled, apparently not completely convinced that he was getting enough attention from enough people and especially his father.

Sam quickly passed the camera on to Dean and walked over to his son to admire everything he had found, already. The toddler was obviously very pleased with himself and was grinning from ear to ear.

They all went back to the kitchen to finally have some coffee after Balthazar confirmed that there were no more sweets hidden anywhere. The basket the angel had given to the archangel earlier was practically overflowing with chocolate eggs and little Easter bunnies, anyway.

"Any plans for what his room will look like?" Dean asked, nodding toward Gabriel.

They hadn't spoken about interior design before, but the older Winchester got the feeling that he should make sure to throw his two cents in before it was too late. God knew what Sam might come up with and he didn't trust Balthazar with these things, either.

"I thought we'd go for a Disney princess feeling," the younger Winchester replied sarcastically, watching as his son unwrapped another one of his sweets and devoured it happily. The toddler was definitely very content and Sam made a mental note to thank Balthazar for coming up with the idea later.

"That would certainly go against classical gender roles," Castiel pointed out seriously, frowning at the younger Winchester. The dark-haired angel really didn't care about gender, social class, race or sexual orientation, but as he understood it going against society's expectations too much might cause problems with the integration into a group of people later on and he didn't see the benefits of doing it deliberately and without a reason.

"It was a joke, Cas," Sam was quick to assure the angel before he could think about the topic even more, "He likes yellow and blue a lot, so I thought we'd go for that."  
The older Winchester nodded, satisfied. Blue sounded good and yellow wasn't all too girly, either. He would have preferred to hear that his nephew would get a Batman themed room or something alike, but this might still be good.

"I suggested to go for white and make it an angelic theme, but my interior designer skills are definitely wasted on this pigheaded fellow," Balthazar stated, rolling his eyes at Sam, "But at least we could agree that plaid was a no-go for any curtains, bedspreads and carpets."

The younger Winchester rolled his eyes right back at the angel. Like he had wanted any of those, anyway. Hell, he just wanted something completely normal!

Apparently, Gabriel didn't like that none of the adults were completely focused on him, so he unwrapped another chocolate egg and did his best to stuff it in his father's mouth. That was bound to get his attention!

"Thanks, Gabe," Sam smiled and cuddled the toddler for a few moments, pressing a short kiss against the side of his head.

The archangel was highly satisfied with that reaction and unwrapped another bit of chocolate and held it out for Jody to take while he yelled her name to make sure that she understood what he wanted. Gabriel went on handing out chocolate, every now and then keeping one for himself.

"Cas," the toddler yelled and offered the egg to his brother who didn't reach for it immediately, so he repeated, "Cas!"

Dean quickly took the chocolate from the archangel and forced it into Castiel's mouth before Gabriel could grow annoyed. He had done basically the same thing with a forkful of pie a while back when they had been at a diner that had served apple pie that was to die for and the angel just hadn't seen the point in trying it.

"I do not appreciate it when you put things into my mouth without warning, Dean," Castiel stated very seriously and he really didn't understand why the older Winchester's face grew as red as it did. The fact that Sam was trying hard to hide his amusement while Balthazar simply laughed out loud did nothing to make him understand the situation, either.

* * *

_Yes, Gabe, I really just wrote that down for you, because I just know that once you're old enough you'll find it hilarious, too._


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: **Thanks a lot to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Imapala67-Ilana, Tendencia, Maddy Love Castiel, kb18142, SARA1988, Amethyst Violet Serenity, Keefer, CherylB1964, midnight0211, CassXDeano, Panda24, Pizzapig, FireChildSlytherin5 and one guest for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

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**8**

_May 9th, 2012_

_Gabe, I always wanted to have a dog. It used to be one of those dreams of mine that I never thought would come true, but looking at my life now I realize that there are many things I thought I could never have that somehow just happened._

_I never thought I would have a family other than Dean and Bobby, but there you are and let's not forget about Cas, Balthazar and Jody. I never thought I could have a permanent home, but we moved into our own house just over a week ago. To tell you the truth, I had stopped thinking that I could ever be happy a while ago, but believe me that I am very happy with the way things are._

_Balthazar used to say that we Winchesters were the go-to guys for impossible things and looking at everything that sounded completely impossible about two years ago but still came true, I am thinking that we might as well try to find out if we can add another thing to that list…_

* * *

Animal shelters weren't exactly the most joyful places on Earth. Sam hadn't been to many of them in the past, but the few he had seen had all been rather grey and cold. Well, what did you expect from a place where pets were stored until they got adopted again, if that even happened at all?

The animal shelter in Sioux Falls was in many ways like any other shelter and the younger Winchester had to admit that he was rather glad when the lady behind the counter suggested that they go to the outside area where they had one enclosure with a couple of puppies that were ready to be adopted.

"How old is he?" the woman asked with a nice smile as they walked outside.

Gabriel seemed to be a little lazy that day and let his daddy carry him around, but his eyes gave away that he was very curious about the place they were at and that he was excited to see what all this was about, too.

"He turned two this March," Sam answered, setting the toddler to the ground when he started to squirm and kick his legs. He immediately made his way to the enclosure where about seven puppies were rolling all over each other, anyway. Well, that was a promising start.

The younger Winchester had to admit that he hadn't even known if Gabriel would even like the idea of having a dog as much as Sam did and if it had turned out that the little archangel was afraid of the animals or didn't show any interest at all, he would have given up on the idea for now. Gabriel always came first, after all.

"Someone seems excited," the brunette commented as she opened the door to the enclosure for them, so they could get closer to the puppies.

The toddler basically squealed in joy, even though he stuck close to his father's leg until the dogs got curious and approached them. After the first few licks against Gabriel's hand the archangel forgot everything about his shyness and let go of the adult and started to pet the first puppy he got his hands on.

Both Sam and the woman were just about to tell him to be careful and gentle when they realized that the toddler was handling the dogs with a lot of care, already. Sometimes, the younger Winchester really forgot that his little boy wasn't exactly like most children. Hell, he wasn't like any normal children.

Gabriel was giggling loudly while the puppies continued to lick his hands and face. Sam chuckled when the toddler nearly disappeared under a pile of puppies. Wasn't it good to know that even a bunch of puppies could do nothing to really harm the archangel, though?

"They're all part Labrador," the brunette explained to the younger Winchester, "It looks like your son likes them."

Not to mention that the dogs liked Gabriel, too. There was a lot of happy yipping from the puppies, after all.

"Yeah, I'm a little surprised by that myself," Sam admitted, "It's not like he's ever been this close to a dog before."

The woman looked surprised by that confession, but her smile never wavered. She probably really wanted them to take at least one dog home with them, anyway. It looked like a couple of people would get a wish granted that day.

"Are you living nearby?" the brunette asked which led to the two adults making some polite small talk about Sioux Falls and how nice it was to live there.

When the puppies suddenly surrounded their legs Sam quickly looked for his son, but the toddler was gone. This was a very inconvenient place and time to show off his powers. The younger Winchester didn't believe for a second that Gabriel had really made the effort to climb over the fence that was at around waist height, but he wasn't really questioning the 'how' when he didn't know where the archangel had disappeared to.

"Gabriel!" Sam called worriedly.

The woman hurried to let them out of the enclosure again, so they could search for the toddler who obviously wasn't inside any longer. She didn't understand how a kid of that age could have escaped in the little time they hadn't paid attention to him, but apparently he had and however unlikely it seemed, the evidence spoke for itself.

The way the brunette froze for a second when she heard a loud bark that sounded more like a howl had the younger Winchester on edge immediately, as well. He didn't even know what was happening, but he quickly followed her when she ran into the direction the howl had come from.

The dog that had made the noise seemed to be a Siberian husky with a beautiful brown and white coat and brown eyes. Gabriel was sitting on the floor directly in front of the cage the animal was in, with both his little hands reaching through the bars to pet it.

The woman gasped loudly and obviously wanted to grab the toddler and get him away as quickly as possible, but Sam stopped her and approached the dog and his son very carefully himself. Alright, she should have known how to handle that sort of situation better than he did, but the younger Winchester was used to handling tricky and potentially dangerous situations himself and it wasn't that hard to see that he was the one of the two of them who was calmer right now.

"Gabe," Sam called in a soft tone when he got close enough to touch his boy's shoulder, "C'mere buddy."

The dog eyed the younger Winchester with barely concealed mistrust and bared his teeth for a split moment before Gabriel stroked over his neck and said, "Daddy!"

If the younger Winchester hadn't seen it himself, he wouldn't have believed the change that went through the animal. There was only curiosity and maybe even a hint of hopefulness left in the dog's face and he pressed himself up to the bars of his cage whimpering when Sam finally picked the toddler up and took a little step backward.

"God… I… he's… oh God…" the woman looked pale as a sheet as she walked up to them and looked Gabriel over for a few long moments.

The younger Winchester knew that it wasn't nice to think like that, but as nervous as she was she at least wasn't going to question anything all too much.

In the meantime the toddler was squirming in his father's arms, trying to reach for the husky while the dog stood as close to them as he could get in his cage and kept on whimpering.

"Love on the first sight, huh?" Sam commented with a nice smile. He wasn't stupid. He knew that something was up with this entire situation, but the signs the archangel was giving him were all too clear to ignore.

"I… Cookie is not…" the brunette still stammered a little, throwing glances toward the dog like she couldn't believe that she was looking at the animal that was supposed to be in that cage.

"Cookie," the younger Winchester repeated after her, "The dog's name is Cookie?"

He didn't wait for the answer and simply checked out the label on the cage. Yes, the husky's name was in fact Cookie. Well damn, Sam had spent basically all his life battling destiny, but he liked to think that he knew when to quit fighting.

"Cookie!" Gabriel yelled and the dog gave a short howl as if he was trying to say 'Yes, I hear you kid!'.

"Okay, okay," Sam chuckled, patting his son's head, "I think we have found the dog for us."

He wasn't surprised when the woman shook her head slightly, though. It was quite obvious that something was wrong with Cookie. Sure, a young kid reaching into the cage of basically any animal was potentially dangerous, but she had reacted like she had thought the dog might actually try to eat Gabriel.

"Look, Cookie went through a couple of different homes and his last owner mistreated him severely," the brunette explained in a nearly apologetic tone, "He has been acting very hostile toward basically everyone and we didn't think he'd ever get adopted again."

That she wasn't sure if she should let them take Cookie home with them remained unspoken, but it was clear from what she had said, anyway.

"He doesn't look hostile to me," Sam stated and boldly held one hand toward the bars of the dog's cage. He knew that this could have easily gone wrong, but the animal only licked his hand and continued to stare up to the toddler.

"I'll need to ask my superior," the woman decided. It wasn't hard to see that she was rather glad to get the opportunity to walk away and pass the problem on to someone else.

"As if there weren't enough misfits in our family, Gabe," the younger Winchester whispered to his son before he set him down and let him pet his chosen dog again.

* * *

"His name is Cookie. If that's not destiny, I don't know what is," Sam told his brother over the telephone, keeping an eye on the toddler who was rolling a ball around for their dog to pick up and bring back to him. The younger Winchester didn't know if Cookie had actually been trained to do that sort of thing before or if that was one more thing Gabriel somehow made him do, but it was cute to watch, anyway.

"'Cause our family has always been on good terms with destiny," Dean snarked, but his voice softened immediately afterward, "But yeah, sounds like it was meant to be."

It was a nice coincidence in any way.

"Is Cas with you right now?" Sam asked. He wasn't quite sure what the short break before his brother confirmed that the angel was in fact standing next to him meant, but he supposed it would be better not to think about it all too much. "Great, I have a question for him."

There was another short break as Dean put his phone to speaker, so they all could talk to each other.

"Hello Sam," Castiel greeted the younger Winchester through the phone in the very formal manner he had never been able to let go of. Well, it was a part of who the angel was and none of them would have wanted to change anything about that.

"Hi Cas," Sam greeted back, smiling slightly, "Look… uhm… they told us that Cookie was supposedly a rather anti-social dog at the shelter, but he's been nothing but gentle and playful ever since Gabe first touched him. I guess the question is; did Gabriel somehow alter his personality?"

The younger Winchester wasn't quite sure what consequences there would be, if he found out that his little son in fact went around playing with the character of other living beings, but he really needed to know if that was what had happened, in any case.

"It is possible that Gabriel altered the dog's state of mind," Castiel replied seriously and thoughtfully, "However, I think it is more likely that he simply communicated with the animal…"

There was obviously more that the angel had wanted to say, but Dean interrupted him quite rudely before he could finish. "Dude, he's like talking to a dog?"

"I have told you before that angels speak and understand every language that ever existed and ever will exist with very few, very specific exceptions," the angel explained in a tone that made clear that they had had that discussion before a couple of times. Sam faintly remembered Dean ranting about Cas understanding the entire menu of an authentic Chinese restaurant they had eaten at once.

"Yeah, but the shorty doesn't even speak English, yet!" the older Winchester argued, thinking he had just made a very good point. How did it make sense for Gabriel to be able to talk to animals when he couldn't even really talk to his own father, yet?

"There are languages that do not require the use of words or the possession of trained vocal cords," Castiel explained matter-of-factly, "Bees communicate in dance for example, it is very fascinating to watch."

Sam knew he had just lost both his brother's and their angelic friend's attentions. That happened more frequently when both of them were around than the younger Winchester cared to remember, really. He had heard what he wanted to know, anyway.

The way the toddler was often just looking at Cookie for a few moments before either one of them moved to fetch something to play with clearly spoke for Castiel's theory that they were communicating, too.

"Thanks Cas," Sam said after listening to the conversation his older brother and the angel were having for another while, "Glad to know I probably won't wake up tomorrow being mind controlled by my two year old."

Of course, the humor was completely lost on Castiel. The younger Winchester thought about telling Dean to just sit Cas down and explain these things to him finally, but asking Dean to talk things over was like asking him to pop in the newest Lady Gaga CD, completely useless and just asking for trouble.

"While Gabriel is surely capable of doing such a thing, I doubt that he would use his powers against you in any way," Castiel replied little reassuringly.

"You hear that, Sammy? Be nice to the kid. He might turn you into a mindless slave, otherwise," Dean laughed.

The younger Winchester huffed and said his goodbyes to his brother and the angel before he went over to the couch where his son and their dog were cuddling.

"You'd never do that to daddy, huh?" Sam asked with a slight smile as he ruffled Gabriel's hair with one hand and Cookie's with the other.

* * *

_I like to think that the wide grin you gave me was a definite 'No, never'._


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, Tendencia, Avalonemyst, Amethyst Violet Serenity, keacdragon, CherylB1964, Pizzapig, kb18142, Panda24, CassXDeano, Keefer and one guest for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

I can't tell you guys how much your reviews mean to me and I love you all for the kind words!

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**9**

_July 25th, 2012_

_I have been trying to build your swing-set and your own personal sandbox for quite some time now, but it's not so easy to focus on tasks like that when you are around. Gabe, I love you to bits and I enjoy getting to spend as much time with you as I do, but the situation really called for a babysitter…_

* * *

"Everything you should need is in his bag. He can have some ice cream, but don't let him eat it too quickly. Stick to the wading pool under any circumstances and make sure he doesn't take the hat off as long as you're in the sun. He loves playing hide and seek lately, so don't let him out of your sight for longer than a few moments. He's damn quick!" Sam stated seriously, cuddling Gabriel until the toddler was squealing happily before he handed him over to his babysitters, "I trust you guys. No monkey business!"

Alright, the archangel had spent a couple of hours alone with Dean, Bobby or Jody before. It wasn't like Sam hadn't let anyone else take care of him ever before. It was the first time that someone else was taking Gabriel somewhere, however. At those other occasions the younger Winchester had brought the toddler over to Bobby's house where he had been watched over.

"I assure you that we are taking the trust you put into us very seriously, Sam," Castiel assured the tall human in a nearly grave tone. The angel had made sure to take note of every single annotation about what they were and weren't meant to do while the toddler was with them.

"I am sure Gabe will be on his best behavior," Balthazar added, letting his little brother sit on his shoulders. Lately, the toddler really enjoyed the new perspective on things sitting on an adult's shoulder gave him.

"He's not the one I was worried about," Sam replied, giving the angel a pointed look. If anyone of those three was really likely to deliberately behave in an inappropriate way, it was Balthazar. Hell, Gabriel and Castiel might cause a scene for the one reason or the other, but it would definitely be an accident with those two and you couldn't forbid them to accidentally misbehave.

"A jolly giant you ain't," Balthazar snarked, handing the bag with Gabriel's things over to Castiel as a sign that they were going to leave, "No worries, mate. The 127 rules for handling _our little brother_ you gave us were very all-encompassing."

Cookie was sitting next to the younger Winchester's leg, whimpering silently when the door closed behind the littlest archangel and his two adult companions. Their dog was very suspicious against strangers, even though he usually gave people Gabriel liked a chance. He still didn't allow Dean, Bobby or Jody to pet him for longer than a few moments before he would leave, however.

Sam crouched down and stroked the soft fur on the dog's head affectionately and soothingly. "I know, I know, but we're getting him back in a few hours and we'll be busy in the garden until then, anyway."

Cookie huffed, but stood up and walked toward the backdoor next to the younger Winchester.

* * *

"I do not understand why we are driving," Castiel commented from the backseat of the red Dodge cabriolet he had been banned to since Balthazar had willed Gabriel's car seat into existence on the front seat.

The blonde angel shook his head and sighed, "I don't have the highest opinion of the Winchester you decided to bunk with, but I would have thought he would teach you about the simple pleasures in life, at least."

Balthazar would have thought it was obvious why they were driving around in a cabriolet at a hot, sunny day when they had the plan to take their little brother to the pool. It also helped that Gabriel looked very cool with his red baseball cap and the sunglasses the blonde angel had given to him before he had put him into the car seat. The toddler also seemed to enjoy the wind in his face and simply watching the road.

"Dean teaches me a great many things that are pleasurable," Castiel replied, nearly defiantly. He failed to see how this was meant to be enjoyable, though. He clearly preferred the Impala and he also preferred sitting on the front seat next to Dean.

The dark-haired angel didn't understand why his statement made his brother laugh, but Balthazar was still highly amused minutes later when they reached the public pool.

* * *

As per Sam's demand Gabriel's baseball cap stayed on, even after Balthazar had changed the toddler into his swimming trunks. The blonde angel had taken the liberty of making sure that his little brother had the matching Cars swimming trunks to his cap, though. He had decided to stick to a classy black for himself. Even if he didn't intend to actually go swimming, he had no reason not to show what he had.

Castiel on the other hand…

"For the love of Pete, Cassy. Get into appropriate clothes before someone calls the police about the creeper in the trenchcoat hanging around the kiddie pool!" Balthazar demanded. A completely clothed adult man, standing next to the wading pool, focusing at one of the kids there with an intense stare was just asking for trouble and that would go against a couple of the rules Sam had set for them. Not that Balthazar actually cared about that too much, but he didn't want to have a very disappointed and annoyed toddler on his hands only because his brother didn't know how to act in public!

"I do not wish to acquire the love of this Pete you are speaking of," Castiel stated with a completely straight face, "I see that this is not the appropriate getup for our current setting, however. I shall return shortly."

Balthazar wasn't quite sure if the dark-haired angel had just made a joke, or if he really didn't understand the saying he had used, but at least Castiel was going to get changed.

The blonde angel shook his head slightly and got a couple of toys out of the bag the younger Winchester had packed for Gabriel before he led his little brother over to the pool.

This wasn't the archangel's first time at a public pool. Sam had taken him to the indoor swimming pool a couple of times over the course of the last winter, but it was the first time he went swimming – or rather bathing – without his father. Balthazar was determined to show him that a little family time only between brothers was enjoyable and that they should do things like that more often. So, maybe he had hung his heart on the little guy. It wasn't like anybody who took a good look at the kid could blame him for that. He was damn adorable!

Gabriel sat down in the water that was around knee deep when he was standing and splashed around for a little while before he focused on his brother again. The adult angel had kept sitting on the edge of the wading pool only hanging his feet into the water.

"Bal play!" the toddler demanded which clearly meant 'Entertain me or you'll have a very cranky kid on your hands, bro'.

Balthazar shook his head exaggeratedly, but reached for a toy boat and let it float toward his brother. He added a rubber duck and couldn't help thinking that it was paradox that the duck was about half as big as the boat. He didn't agree with Castiel all that often when it came to strange human things like that, but that was bound to confuse some kids about size relations. Gabriel only grabbed both objects and held them under water, giggling madly when he let go and both toys shot back to the surface by themselves.

"You're so easily entertained, Gabriel," Balthazar smiled fondly and handed the bigger boat to his little brother, as well. He watched as the toddler put the smaller ship on the bigger one and then splashed around until they turned over. If he was being a little cynical, Balthazar would have said that Gabriel was practicing for bigger natural disasters he would be able to cause just about as casually.

"Is this sufficient?" Castiel asked a minute later, standing next to Balthazar by the edge of the pool in navy blue bathing shorts. The angel had already noticed that people were looking at him differently than they had when he had still been in his coat and suit, so he supposed he had integrated himself into the – relatively small – crowd well enough.

"Looking good, brother," Balthazar nodded, satisfied, "And now you have to stop standing there as if you don't belong here."

The blonde angel patted the ground next to him and was admittedly a little surprised when Castiel immediately got the hint and sat down. Apparently, the older Winchester was teaching Cas some useful things, after all.

"I drew inspiration from Dean's lucky boxer shorts," the dark-haired angel replied as casually as if he was talking about the nice weather. To him it probably was a suitable topic for small talk, anyway.

Balthazar was still laughing about this newest piece of information he could drive Dean Winchester crazy with when they met the next time when Gabriel stood up and put the rubber duck in Castiel's hand before he took his brother's other hand and pulled as hard as he could. The dark-haired angel didn't get the message, but the blonde man sitting next to him gave him a hard enough shove that he ended sitting in the wading pool like their little brother had wanted him to.

"Quack, quack," Gabriel yelled, letting the rubber duck he had taken back in the meantime swim around Castiel's knee.

The dark-haired angel was about to point out that actual duck sounds were more complex than that, but Balthazar gave him a warning pat to the back of his head that managed to derail his train of thought. And the younger Winchester had been worried that _he_ would be the one who wouldn't know how to behave!

"Did Sam say anything about water pistols?" Balthazar pondered out loud. To tell the truth, he hadn't listened too closely when the human had rambled on and on.

"He did not mention anything like that," Castiel replied while Gabriel was using him as some sort of jungle gym, climbing all over him.

Well, that was great, the blonde angel thought with a smirk and willed two into existence. He clearly needed one to demonstrate for their little brother how this was supposed to work and Gabriel of course had to have one. Castiel had no use for his own toy gun. The targets used for target practice didn't need weapons, after all.

* * *

"This is the life, Cassy," Balthazar commented, stretching lazily and lying back on one of the beach mats they had brought with them, "It's not exactly Hawaii or Tahiti, but I'm willing to overlook that on account of the two brothers I want to punch in the face the least being here."

Castiel tilted his head, seemingly deep in thought. He could not quite decide if this counted as a chick flick moment, but he thought that Dean might have said something similar and so it seemed like a safe guess that it had been a manly thing to say.

"I have no wish to punch you in the face either, brother," Castiel replied, trying to imitate the gruff yet affectionate tone Dean often used with him. It seemed appropriate for the situation.

In the meantime Gabriel was still playing with his ships. The dark-haired angel was watching him like a hawk, even though the two adults were sitting a little further away, for the moment being. The toddler didn't mind, because he was busy trying to figure out how he could make the boats stay under water without having to hold them down, anyway. He had just decided to call for Castiel and Balthazar to come and help him when an older kid jumped into the water very close to him and startled him. As if that was not enough, the other boy also grabbed one of Gabriel's boats and just stuck his tongue out at the archangel when he yelled, "Mine!"

Nobody could explain where the relatively big wave that made the boy topple over and land on his butt came from, but Gabriel sure thought it was funny and Balthazar smirked when he went over to pick up his little brother and his toys, as well. The other kid only got back to his feet and ran back to his mommy.

"I think Sam would have called this 'monkey business'," Castiel pointed out as he handed a towel to the blonde angel.

"The yob asked for it!" Balthazar replied, wrapping Gabriel into the towel to get him dried off and ready to leave the place, "Trying to steal from an archangel while his two brothers watch. That kid clearly has no sense of self-preservation to speak of!"

"No need to explain yourself, brother. I never said I disapprove," Castiel clarified with a tiny smile.

* * *

_Hearing everything about your little adventure, I really wish I could have been there. Of course, you need some time to just bond with your brothers as well, though. However, I can't help feeling really happy that Castiel is as willing to recount everything that happened as he is._


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's note: **Thanks a lot to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, FireChildSlytherin5, Pizzapig, Shorty22133, kb18142, Tendencia, keacdragon, Avalonemyst, CherylB1964, Maddy Love Castiel, Panda24, CassXDeano and one guest for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

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**10**

_November 2nd, 2012_

_Uncle Dean said he would visit us today. You've been looking forward to it ever since he called two days ago. You love your uncle Dean and I'm pretty sure you'd still love him, even if he didn't bring sweets for you every time he visits. He likes to act like I wouldn't allow you to have any, but I think that's just because he likes spoiling you even better when he thinks he can also annoy me with it… I'm not spoiling his fun._

* * *

"Unca Dean!" Gabriel yelled as soon as the door was opened and revealed the older Winchester on the other side. The adult didn't even get a moment to give a greeting himself before the very excited toddler jumped into his arms.

Dean actually had made it a habit to leave all weapons in the Impala before he made his presence known to his brother and nephew, because with Gabriel being all over him – and he really was most of the time – it just seemed too dangerous to carry any guns or knives. Yeah, he felt rather naked without them, but he'd feel worse if Gabe accidentally shot or cut something off and he was thinking about his own body parts more than about the toddler's, because the little one still was an archangel and couldn't be hurt as easily as that.

"Hey buddy," the older Winchester finally greeted his nephew and let him sit against his hip as they went inside under the critical stares of Cookie. Apparently, he wasn't trustworthy enough for the dog's taste. Then again, nobody other than Gabriel and Sam was, so he didn't take it too personal.

Once they reached the kitchen table Dean let the boy stand on his own two legs again. Cookie was immediately at his side, nosing Gabriel's ear until the toddler giggled and turned his head away.

"Say it for uncle Dean," the older Winchester prompted, holding the leftover Halloween candy that had survived the classic horror movie marathon Dean had forced on Cas in front of his little nephew's nose.

"Trick or treat!" Gabriel yelled nearly immediately. Cookie gave a short howl when the toddler shouted and wandered over to the younger Winchester to sit next to the quiet member and leader of their pack instead.

The older Winchester grinned widely and handed the sweets over.

"I knew the costume was a spectacularly stupid idea," Dean told his brother with a groan the moment the toddler turned around and ran into the living room to get some of his toys or something like that. He had tried very hard to ignore the very colorful butterfly wings Gabriel was still sporting on his back for as long as the kid had been around. He really hadn't wanted to make a comment that might upset his nephew, after all. Still, they didn't look any better in real than they had on the picture Sam had sent three days ago and they didn't look any manlier when the rest of the outfit consisted of the toddler's normal clothes, either.

"He chose it himself, Dean," the younger Winchester pointed out, scratching Cookie's head for a few moments before he went to get a beer from the fridge for his brother. He chose to stick to orange juice himself, though. You never knew when Gabriel would come back and want a sip of daddy's drink and Sam just preferred not having to say no. Yes, in some ways Gabriel was training his father better than he was training the toddler.

"Who let's a two year old choose his own costume?" Dean huffed, accepting the bottle gratefully. Especially when said two year old wanted a butterfly costume of all things! Damn, Gabe was never going to be normal, they all knew and accepted that, but really… a butterfly?

"Dean, he wanted the costume and he loves the wings so much that he's still wearing them," Sam replied matter-of-factly, "Get over it."

Not to mention that basically all of the people they had met on Halloween had commented on how absolutely adorable Gabriel looked as a little butterfly and the younger Winchester agreed wholeheartedly. Sure, he wouldn't have chosen that costume for his son – he had actually thought about trying to find a little Loki costume just for the irony of it – but when the little archangel voiced his opinion on things Sam was always willing to listen.

"Don't come complaining to me when he wants a tutu next year," Dean replied seriously.

The younger Winchester shook his head, chuckling. He didn't say that he wouldn't be complaining. Gabe was a little kid, he liked whatever he liked and that didn't have to mean anything for his future preferences. Hell, even if it did, Sam still wouldn't complain. The kid was his son and he'd love him no matter what.

"Give me a second, I'll go find the pictures of what Balthazar thought was a good idea for a costume this year," the younger Winchester suggested to change the topic and because he really thought that Dean would have a good laugh at that. God knew Sam was still amused only thinking about it.

Apparently, the angel had decided that his Castiel costume had been such a big hit that he would try something related to it. Bobby hadn't thought it was very funny when the British angel had shown up with a trucker's hat, an old t-shirt under an old flannel shirt that was open in the front and with worn out jeans, sporting a beard and with some padding under the shirts he wore to give him the right shape as he had said. Balthazar had barely managed to get the first 'idjits' out before Bobby had threatened to shoot him. Sam was rather glad that he had even managed to take pictures of the incident before the angel had disappeared in a flutter of wings. Sure, there were more pictures of Balthazar and Gabriel from when they had actually started their trick or treating, but the younger Winchester still thought that the one with both Bobby and Balthazar was the best. Not that he'd ever tell the older hunter.

Cookie sighed, but stood up and followed Sam upstairs to get the camera from the tall human's bedroom. The dog knew that Dean was okay as far as humans went, but he'd still rather keep close to one of his owners.

It took the younger Winchester longer than he would have thought to locate the camera. He wasn't quite sure how it had ended between a couple of books on the shelf, but he supposed he must have gotten distracted and put it down at a random place when he had last handled it or something. Getting distracted was something that was always a possibility with Gabriel around.

Thinking of the littlest Winchester, there were some definitely suspicious noises coming from the kitchen. Sam sighed, pocketed the camera and went back to see what the toddler was yelling his little lungs out about. Unfortunately, if he started to cry or yell the first thing that went out of the window was any form of coherent speech which meant that he couldn't even try to explain what was wrong. Then again, it wasn't that hard to guess what had happened once Sam caught the first glimpse of the little boy.

"Dean, seriously?" the younger Winchester groaned, looking at Gabriel's beloved butterfly wings that were now on the very top of the kitchen cabinets. The toddler would have barely thrown them up there himself and the way he was yelling at his uncle was a good hint to what had happened, too.

Cookie laid his ears back and growled at the older Winchester, as well. He didn't like to watch when the toddler was throwing a tantrum with full blown yelling, crying and stomping of his feet. Luckily, it didn't happen often to begin with, but Dean really had provoked it.

"I just asked him, if I could take a good look at them and they… tried to fly away," the older Winchester replied as sheepishly as he would ever get. He had realized his mistake pretty much the second he had taken the wings away from the toddler and had thrown them in the air, but unfortunately they had gotten stuck on top of one of the cabinets and now even the freaking dog blamed him for the situation!

"It's okay, Gabe," Sam told the toddler in a soothing tone, trying to pull his son into his arms to calm him down. He had learned a while ago that Gabriel might not stop kicking and fighting immediately, but he actually really wanted the contact, especially if it wasn't his father he was upset with, in the first place.

"Uncle Dean will give your wings back," the younger Winchester promised in a soft tone, cradling the toddler against his chest while he shot his brother a pointed look.

Dean huffed and got a chair to step on, so he could reach the butterfly wings. He had meant to do that, anyway. It wasn't like his brother would have had to tell him to make up for his mistake!

The older Winchester had only just stepped on the chair when Sam suddenly made a very surprised noise, though. The sight that greeted Dean when he turned his head to see what had just happened was an excuse for the sort of girly startled sound his brother had made, however.

Gabriel had calmed down completely and was even giggling happily which was clearly a good thing, but both brothers didn't quite know what to make of the two purely white wings that were sprouting from the toddler's back, though.

"Whoa," Dean commented ineloquently as he got down from the chair and approached his nephew carefully. He had seen displays of Gabriel's powers, but nothing had ever made the toddler look anything but human before. Well, he still was the same kid he had been a minute earlier, but it was freaky to see him with angels' wings that moved slightly with every tiny movement Gabriel made. That meant they were definitely all too real then.

Sam shot Dean a look that clearly said 'Look what you've done!', even though the younger Winchester knew that he couldn't really blame his brother for this. He carefully reached toward his son's shoulder blades and gently traced a finger over the spot where the wings met the toddler's back. Gabriel cuddled up to his father a little more, but remained calm and silent otherwise.

Cookie's confused whining brought all three Winchesters out of the nearly trance like state they had been in for a few long moments. The toddler struggled to get out of his father's hold and ran over to the dog to cuddle him. The animal only looked like he wanted to run for a short moment, but then allowed Gabriel to wraps his little arms around him as far as they would go.

Sam watched quite fascinated as the white wings reflected the light in a way that made it look like there was a fine mist in the colors of the rainbow over the feathers. He had to say that his son's wings looked much better than the butterfly wings he had been so fond of before. The younger Winchester couldn't help wondering how he was going to get Gabriel changed into different clothes like this, though. Not that that was the biggest problem they would have, if the wings stayed.

"I'll call Cas," Dean announced, obviously still a little baffled. His angelic companion should be able to shed some light on the situation and hopefully tell them how they'd get rid of the new limbs Gabriel had just casually sprouted.

Sam nodded his consent and sat down by the kitchen table before he patted his knees and held his hands out for the toddler again, "C'mere, buddy."

Gabriel let go of Cookie and walked over to his father with the dog right behind him, sniffing at the archangel's wings which made the feathers quiver like they were being tickled. The youngest Winchester allowed his father to pick him up so he could sit on his knees, facing the adult.

"Those are your wings, right Gabe?" Sam asked a little uselessly since he was sure he knew the answer to the question, already. He ran the fingers of one hand over the outline of the toddler's right wing very carefully but with a little more pressure than before and when his son didn't show any sort of negative reaction he gently ruffled the feathers which made Gabriel giggle. Apparently, the wings really were a part of his body and he could feel when something was being done to them.

"Mine!" Gabriel confirmed with a grin. His wings promptly stretched to their full length and height which actually was pretty impressive given how small the kid they were coming from was.

Cookie whined again and hid under the kitchen table, pressing his belly into the floor to make himself appear smaller. He didn't quite like the changed appearance of his little owner. He smelled somewhat different, too. The dog would still have done pretty much everything Gabriel asked him to, but he didn't feel as comfortable as he usually did around the archangel.

"They're very nice," Sam stated with a smile, pressing a short kiss to his son's forehead.

The younger Winchester might have been surprised when the wings had made their first appearance, but in the end he vowed that he would always remember one simple truth. Everything about Gabriel was perfect the way it was and the archangel should never have to feel bad about who and what he was.

"Daddy loves you," Sam added, tickling the toddler's sides until he was squirming and squealing.

"Love you," Gabriel echoed, hugging his father for a few moments before he hopped off the chair and ran toward the living room. Judged by the sounds he was knocking a few small objects off shelves and tables with his wings, but it wasn't like anything breakable or valuable was stored anywhere where the toddler could reach, anyway.

Cookie stood up and placed his head in Sam's lap, whining softly until he got scratched behind the ears. He supposed that it was a good sign that the leader of their pack wasn't worried about the changes in the little one, but that still didn't mean that he had to like them, too.

"'S okay, boy," the younger Winchester told the dog in a soothing tone, searching for and finding the one spot that always made the dog relax when it was being scratched, "You're just mad that there are chicken wings in the house you're not allowed to eat."

The husky huffed out a breath, but remained relaxed until Dean returned with Castiel.

* * *

_As of today, you know how to make your wings appear and disappear whenever you want to. I hope I can make you understand that there are situations where it's better to keep them hidden without giving you the impression that there's something wrong with you. Be patient with me, Gabe. I'll be trying my best!_


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: **Thanks a lot to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, FireChildSlytherin5, CassXDeano, Maddy Love Castiel, SARA1988, kb18142, Pizzapig, CherylB1964 and Tendencia for last chapter's reviews!

Okay, I really don't want to complain because I have quite a few very faithful reviewers - I adore you guys - but I couldn't help noticing that the last chapter got 5 less reviews than I usually get... uhm... was it that bad?**  
**

I can't even begin to explain how much the reviews I get mean to me, so please, if you read this and find anything good about it, drop me a note. Thank you!

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**11**

_February 13th, 2013_

_So, uncle Dean decided that as a late birthday present he wants to spend a day with me and Castiel just hanging out, going to a bar and watching the latest action flick. Apparently, he misses the old days. Not that I recall us ever doing something like this before. At least, not with Castiel around, as well. Whatever, it's going to be nice and we'll have fun and you are going to have a great afternoon with Bobby in the meantime._

* * *

Bobby unfastened the seatbelt and lifted Gabriel out of his car seat before he set the littlest Winchester back on the ground and locked the car. The toddler held the older hunter's hand tightly as they walked into the mall.

"What we doing?" the archangel asked curiously as soon as they went through the entrance. His daddy usually narrated these things for him. When Sam went shopping with Gabriel, the younger Winchester told him where they were going and what they were going to buy and all these things. Bobby had only said that they were going to the mall and the toddler really wanted to know what they were doing there now. He also wanted to make sure that the adult was paying enough attention to him.

"We're going to the jeweler's to look for a watch," Bobby explained, turning his head to look at the toddler for a moment to determine if he was satisfied with that answer. He knew that it was highly unlikely that a nearly three year old would be interested in things like buying watches, but he didn't intend to spend much time in that shop. Besides, there also was a trip to the candy shop on the list and that was something the little archangel should be able to appreciate a lot.

"Okay," Gabriel nodded exaggeratedly and hopped along when Bobby continued to walk toward the jeweler's store. The littlest Winchester loved Bobby a lot, so going somewhere with the older hunter counted as a good thing in his book. Most of the time they stayed back at the house or went for short walks, though. Going to a shopping mall with Bobby instead of his father was a new experience.

The jeweler's store, as it turned out, had a lot of big glass boxes with shiny things in them. Gabriel didn't care too much for rings, necklaces, bracelets and all these things, but he knew what they were and some of them had stones that reflected the light in a fascinating way that captured his attention for a moment or two.

"Can I help you, Sir?" a helpful shop assistant asked just a moment after they had started to look around.

It was quite obvious that this wasn't exactly the sort of place Bobby went to all too often, so he really might need the help. Before he could start to explain what he was looking for Gabriel had already pressed his little hands and nose against the glass of one of the show cases.

The older hunter put his hand on the toddler's head and made him turn around to face him.

"Let's play the 'no touch' game for one," Bobby suggested and smiled slightly when Gabriel's face scrunched up in contemplation before he shook his head, "For two then?"

"No," the little boy shook his head with a grin and began to count with the fingers of one hand, but he didn't seem satisfied with the number he reached, "For many!"

The older hunter raised an eyebrow but nodded his agreement.

"Alright, you get many sweets if you don't touch anything," Bobby said in his usual gruff tone, but ruffled the boy's hair affectionately, at the same time. The kid really knew how to bargain and he usually got his way, because they all enjoyed spoiling him rotten more or less secretly.

Gabriel nodded gravely in an imitation of the serious nods his brother Castiel gave when he agreed to something.

The shop assistant smiled when they followed her to the counter and the toddler carefully avoided getting too close to anything. The archangel was determined to win this, because he knew that Bobby would keep his promise and let him have a lot of sweets, if he did. He wasn't stupid. He had realized that Bobby's 'no touch' game wasn't much of a game very quickly, but he was still willing to play it with the promise of sweets for winning.

"Your grandson is adorable," the woman commented with a nice smile.

"Yes, he is," Bobby replied without missing a beat.

* * *

Bobby knew that he wasn't going to get out of the candy store without paying a ridiculous amount of money for a ridiculous amount of sweets, but he had promised Gabriel many sweets for steering clear of all the show cases at the jeweler's store and the kid had been very good and very patient, so he truly deserved them.

They already had gummy bears, Oreos and a chocolate bar in their shopping basket before they even got to the Valentine's display.

Oh, Bobby wasn't too fond of all these overly sappy things, but if he was doing this he might as well do it right, even if he vowed to find the box of chocolates that looked the least corny. Gabriel on the other hand looked the most interested in the tackiest things. No surprise there.

"Bobo, please!" the archangel pleaded, pointing at a bag of Hershey's Kisses he couldn't quite reach. The foil was shiny and there surely was something sweet inside, so he decided that he wanted them.

Bobby sighed, but added the bag to their shopping basket without an argument.

"One more," the older hunter told the toddler seriously, making sure that the kid understood what he had just said. There was a limit to everything and they already had more sweets than a child Gabriel's age should eat in a few weeks. Besides, Bobby didn't plan to spend the entire day in that shop. He had already decided for a simple box of chocolates with a red ribbon in one corner, so their shopping tour should be almost at its end.

Before they could leave the shelves with the sweets for Valentine's Day Gabriel grabbed a bag with chocolate hearts. He readily walked to the register with the older hunter after that, though.

Bobby knew that he had gotten incredibly lucky that the toddler hadn't seen anything else he absolutely wanted to have on their way out.

* * *

Gabriel was perfectly capable of sitting on his own chair, but sometimes he just preferred sharing a chair with one of his caretakers. Especially when they were doing something interesting and he wanted a better look at it.

"What you doing?" the toddler asked, turning his head so he could look at Bobby.

The older hunter smiled slightly as he reached around the archangel and put the box with the watch he had bought for Jody on the wrapping paper. It was a present that was practical enough so Bobby felt comfortable with it, but personal enough that he was sure Jody would appreciate it.

"Now we are wrapping the gift for Jody," the adult explained to the little archangel as he put two ends of the paper together on top of the box, "Here, kid. Hold this."

Gabriel put his hand on the paper and grinned when Bobby ruffled his hair before he reached for the duct tape.

"Why?" the toddler suddenly wanted to know. He had discovered that word not too long ago and he really liked to use it, because he had also noticed that people nearly always explained things to him when he did and he liked to learn things, even if he didn't fully understand the explanations most of the time.

"Because gifts need to look nice. Like Christmas presents," Bobby answered. He knew that Sam liked to encourage Gabriel to ask all sorts of questions and he could see the younger Winchester's point about encouraging curiosity and the will to learn, so he generally played along.

"Christmas!" the toddler yelled excitedly, letting go of the paper when Bobby was done with the duct tape. There was nothing for him to hold when the older hunter finished with the narrow sides of the present, but he got to hold his finger down on the knot before Bobby tied the bow and they were done with it.

"No, Valentine's Day," Bobby explained, "It's another day when we give presents to people we… like a lot."

Gabriel frowned. He wasn't familiar with that concept and he wasn't all that interested in it, either. Actually, he was by far more interested in those sweets they had bought earlier and that were in a bag on the kitchen counter.

"I want candy, please!" the archangel stated and didn't realize that Bobby was quite glad by the change of topic, because he was too focused on the bag the older hunter was rummaging around in until he had gotten all the things the toddler had chosen in the store out on the table. He had learned that adding 'please' to just about anything was often just as effective as yelling and it pleased his father and all the others a lot more than any amount of shouting would have.

Gabriel grabbed the bag with the chocolate hearts and ran off toward the living room with it, making sure that Bobby was following him, though. He climbed onto the couch just moments later and started to work on opening the bag. The toddler gave up as soon as the older hunter sat down next to him and handed the bag over to get the adult to open it for him.

As it turned out, the pieces of chocolate had short texts on them. Of course, Gabriel wanted to know what they said as soon as he noticed that the letters on the chocolate looked like those in his pictures books and that had to mean they meant something. There seemed to be three different kinds of hearts. The ones that said 'be mine' that were devoured by the toddler as soon as Bobby told him what they said, the ones that said 'kiss' that were eaten pretty much instantly as well and the ones that said 'I love you' which the toddler put on the couch table.

The older hunter suggested a little game of hide and seek after they were about halfway through the bag, because he was starting to feel a little bad about feeding the kid so much chocolate at once. Gabriel jumped off the couch and ran off giggling pretty much instantly. Apparently, he liked the idea a lot.

* * *

When Sam, Dean and Castiel returned later that evening they found Bobby on the couch in his living room with Gabriel on his lap as they were reading a story from the toddler's favorite picture book. The little boy was wearing the older hunter's trucker's hat and was cuddled up to his chest, looking between the page of the book and Bobby's face as he read ever so often.

It took a few more moments before Gabriel realized that his father, uncle and brother had returned, but when he did he jumped off the couch and basically threw himself at his daddy.

"Did you have a nice day?" Sam asked with a smile, cuddling the toddler until he was ready to stand on his own two feet again.

"Yes!" the archangel confirmed with a bright smile and went to hug Dean and Castiel next.

The younger Winchester gave Bobby and grateful smile. The three of them had had a pretty awesome afternoon, too. Sure, he could have done without ever seeing 'Texas Chainsaw 3D' but then again Castiel's struggle with the 3D glasses had been fun. Not to mention that the angel apparently still took movies by far too serious and some of the 3D effects had freaked him out enough that he had barely been able to keep sitting in his seat.

"Don't forget your sweets," Bobby reminded Gabriel and held the bag out for the toddler to grab and pointed at the chocolate hearts that were still on the couch table.

Surprisingly, the archangel hurried to the couch table first and grabbed the chocolate he had put aside earlier. He then gave a piece to each member of his family with a big grin.

"Read what it says, idjit," Bobby quickly told Castiel before the angel could say that he didn't require sustenance, or had no wish to ingest any chocolate at the moment, or whatever other stupid thing he had been about to say.

The dark-haired angel did as he was told and smiled slightly, crouching down to hug his little brother properly.

"He really is your son, Samantha," Dean commented teasingly, but he patted his nephew's head affectionately all the same. It was a very nice gesture, after all. Sharing his sweets – with or without messages on them – was a clear sign that Gabriel loved them in any case.

"You're just jealous," Sam shot back.

There might have been a little grain of truth in his brother's statement, but the older Winchester still wasn't ready to settle down. He was far from it, in fact. He enjoyed being on the road with or without – but mostly with – Castiel by far too much to want to give it up. He had to admit that he liked knowing that his brother, nephew and father figure were happily retired from active duty and that there were two houses with a spare room waiting for Dean to visit, however.

"We're all a little jealous of your luscious hair, Sammy."

* * *

_We all love you too, Gabe._


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, FireChildSlytherin5, Pizzapig, kb18142, SARA1988, CherylB1964, Pawn'sVictory, Avalonemyst, Maddy Love Castiel, musicfiend2392, Keefer, kittymitten, Tendencia, midnight0211 and CassXDeano for last chapter's reviews!

You guys are awesome! :-D**  
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**12**

_September 12th, 2013_

_Dean and Cas are paying us a visit. Your uncle wants to brush up his knowledge on various spirits. He says he feels like he is getting lazy, having Castiel with him to just tell him whatever he wants to know. So, uncle Dean is spending the day with Bobby and his books while the two of us take Cas to the zoo._

* * *

"Daddy, what is that?" Gabriel asked predictably. It had been the toddler's first question at all the other exhibits they had looked at too, after all.

"They're flamingos," Sam told his son, repeating the name of the animals slowly once more when the archangel struggled to say it himself. Once Gabriel had successfully taken in a piece of information he generally remembered it perfectly afterward. That didn't mean that he didn't love repetitions, though. The younger Winchester wasn't sure how often he had already read certain stories or poems to the little boy and even after he could recite them by heart, he would still beg to hear them one more time.

Gabriel grinned widely and got as close to the flamingos as he could, trying to catch the attention of one of the pink birds. It was a routine the toddler had established right at the first exhibit they had looked at. First he wanted to know what his daddy called the animals and then he went and 'talked' to them.

Castiel had informed Sam that Gabriel was mostly trying to find out what the animals called themselves, but the answers were something he couldn't translate for the human, because the English language – or any other, really – didn't have the words for it. The younger Winchester also learned that the archangel was highly interested in the family stories of the animals, as far as they could give them.

"Sometimes, I really don't understand how Gabe's powers work," Sam commented, watching the toddler giggle about something the flamingos had supposedly told him. Basically all the birds in the enclosure had walked up to where Gabriel was standing in the meantime and the boy clearly was having a blast. Flamingos were funny animals, apparently.

"Dean has asked me about them repeatedly, as well," Castiel answered with a slight frown, "But I can only tell you the same I told him. I have no deeper understanding of the workings of my brother's powers."

The younger Winchester looked a little perplexed but nodded, anyway. Of course, Balthazar had repeatedly said that Gabriel was the first and probably last of a kind. There were no other angels who had ever started out as babies and had grown up at a pace that was normal for humans. It seemed like a safe guess that the development of the archangel's powers followed some plan similar to the stages of development his mostly human body went through, they simply didn't know what that plan looked like.

"We're lucky the animals around here are rather happy," Sam concluded after a few moments of silence. He didn't want to imagine what it would be like, if the animals kept telling the toddler how unhappy they were and how awful it was to be kept in a zoo.

"I still don't understand the humans' fascination with taking species out of their natural habitat and putting them into these artificial representations of those habitats," Castiel admitted, clearly expecting the younger Winchester to have a good explanation for this since he was a human being, as well.

Sam couldn't help wondering if this was what Dean had to deal with every day. Then again, it didn't look like his brother ever explained anything much to the angel which led to the question what the hell they were doing all the time when they were on the road together. The younger Winchester decided that he probably really didn't want to know, though.

"I guess most people would never see a live elephant, if it weren't for zoos," Sam tried to explain, but he realized that this was a pretty weak reason for doing these things to animals. Hell, Castiel's way of looking at some things could throw everyone into an existentialist crisis, if you thought about them long enough.

"I understand," the angel nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer he had gotten. He often didn't need very deep or meaningful answers, ones he could follow logically were good enough, most of the time.

In fact, it looked like Castiel enjoyed being in the zoo about as much as Gabriel did, so his questions most surely had been out of curiosity and not because he thought that humans were being in the wrong when they put the animals into zoos.

Gabriel was still giggling when they left the flamingos and went on to the next enclosure. It was too bad that the toddler wasn't able to express what was so funny in words his father would be able to understand. He had an instinctive knowledge of the language the animals used to communicate, but he could not translate it back to English.

"Tigers!" Gabriel yelled. He didn't need to ask his father what the animals were, because he had seen tigers on TV before.

"Frigging awesome!" the toddler added happily in an imitation of what his uncle Dean had said when they had seen that show about tigers. He had entered the phase in which he would repeat just about everything the people he loved said. This had already led to him declaring that all of them were 'idjits' and 'jerks' a couple of times, even though he used the words as if they were terms of endearment most of the time. It was hard to explain to him that he wasn't supposed to say these things when Dean and Bobby and Sam himself let them slip ever so often, however.

Oh well, he would have learned all those words and a few way more colorful ones on the playground sooner or later anyway and the kids on the playground had to learn them from someone, too.

* * *

"Cas, you know that I was joking when I said that you and Dean _had to_ share a room, right?" the younger Winchester asked a while later when they had reached the petting zoo area. Gabriel had quickly found the courage to approach the bunnies, guinea pigs, lambs and goats on his own, so Sam had a little time to talk to Castiel.

His brother and the angel had arrived the previous evening and there was only one guest room in the house which shouldn't have been a problem since Castiel didn't sleep, anyway.

Sam hadn't thought anything of it when he had made that stupid comment to rile his brother up, but as far as he had seen the angel had retired when Dean had decided to go to bed. There hadn't been any strange or suspicious noises coming from the guest room for which the younger Winchester was endlessly grateful, though.

He didn't care what Dean and Castiel were doing when they were on their own, but that didn't mean that he wanted a front row seat when they were doing it. Hell, for all he knew the two of them really were just friends and Dean had just been too tired to explain to Cas that he didn't have to stay in the guest room only because they were guests in Sam's house.

"Your brother and I are generally sharing rooms," the angel replied matter-of-factly, "I am _having his back_ when he is asleep."

The younger Winchester wasn't quite sure if this counted as information he had never wanted to have, or if it was somewhat hilarious. He chose to go for being very mildly disturbed.

"You're watching Dean sleep?" Sam couldn't help asking, even though he was pretty sure that he shouldn't have. Even if the answer would not scar him for life, his older brother would kill him as soon as he found out what he and the angel had been talking about.

"In a _not creepy or stalkerish way_," Castiel confirmed. The tone the angel had used made it easy to guess that he had used Dean's words instead of his own.

Who would have thought? Alright, it didn't come as a big surprise that the older Winchester and the dark-haired angel seemed to be even closer than they let on when they were around others. Dean generally was much more willing to get in touch with his emotions – no matter which kind; platonic or otherwise – when nobody was watching.

Sam didn't get to contemplate the matter further before Gabriel suddenly came running his way with tears in his eyes. He might not have given the toddler his full attention for a few minutes there, but he had clearly seen that his son had only gone from one animal to the next, petting them and apparently having shorter or longer conversations with them. There had been nothing that should have caused that reaction in the kid!

The younger Winchester made silent soothing noises as he wrapped his arms around Gabriel and picked him up off the ground to rock him gently while the archangel sobbed into his chest. The little boy was trying to explain what had upset him that much, but his speech was completely unintelligible.

"Are you hurt?" Sam asked after a few long moments, stroking the toddler's back and keeping him as close as possible. Gabriel shook his head and tried to tell his father what had happened again, but the adult still couldn't understand him.

The younger Winchester wanted to ask Castiel, if he had an idea what all this might be about, but the dark-haired angel had walked away from them and had crouched down in front of the young goat the archangel had been petting before. Sam couldn't help noticing that a few people were eying the way the man in the trenchcoat was staring at the goat with bewilderment.

"The goat is unhappy," Castiel explained once he returned, "She has not been here for very long and misses the farm she came from."

Sam sighed. He should have known, really. Hadn't he made a stupid joke about exactly this before? The animal must have told Gabriel about how much she longed to be back at her home and had made the little archangel very sad with it. The younger Winchester was highly unsure what he was supposed to do about the situation, though.

"It's okay, buddy," Sam whispered, hugging his son a little tighter, "Let's get some ice cream into you."

Alright, he was only trying to distract the toddler until he would eventually forget about the goat, but what else was he supposed to do? He could barely tell the zoo keepers that they had to return the goat to where she came from, because she was unhappy. Sam had no doubt that Castiel would think that that was a valid option, though.

The way Gabriel was staring back at the goat over his father's shoulder as he carried him away from the petting zoo nearly broke the younger Winchester's heart. Luckily, it seemed that the chocolate ice cream they bought at the next vendor they came across brightened the toddler's mood considerably.

To tell the truth, Sam had been very close to declare their little trip to the zoo over, but the moment he let Gabriel stand on his own two feet again the toddler took off into the direction of the monkeys.

"They're chimpanzees," the younger Winchester explained, "Or just chimps."

It was amusing to watch how the monkeys came closer to the bars that separated them from the visitors, but it was downright hilarious how fascinated Castiel was by the animals. Sam actually had to laugh out loud when the adult angel tilted his head and a few of the chimps looked back at him and mimicked the gesture.

Gabriel clapped his hands happily and most of the monkeys clapped along with him. The same happened when the archangel started to jump up and down and when the toddler hugged the dark-haired adult next to him a bunch of the chimps started to hug the hell out of each other, as well.

The younger Winchester shook his head slightly. His son would make a great animal trainer, that was for sure! He didn't notice that a few people had stopped to stare at Gabriel, Castiel and the monkeys for a little while, but when the first few started to take pictures or videos with their cameras and cell phones Sam started to feel uncomfortable with the attention.

"Hey Gabe, why don't we go to the gift shop next?" It was another cheap shot, but it was guaranteed to work. He was quite sure that Balthazar wouldn't mind the few extra things on the credit card bill at the end of the month. Yes, he had allowed the blonde angel to more or less force a credit card on him and he probably was never going to hear the end of it, either. Then again, he could barely keep up with the credit card scams and hustled pool games that he and Dean had mostly lived from before and a normal job wouldn't go over well with the clingy little archangel. Balthazar liked to call it 'heavenly child support', but that did nothing to stop Dean from laughing at his little brother for being a 'kept woman'.

It wasn't surprising that Gabriel took the bait and returned to his father nearly immediately. He knew what gifts and presents were all too well, after all.

"Monkeys are very intelligent animals," Castiel stated, walking away from the chimpanzees with his little brother and the human, "They have remarkable cognitive abilities and they are very highly developed emotionally, as well."

A joke about Dean not being a good little chimp crossed Sam's mind, but he thought it would be lost on the angel, anyway. Instead he focused on the way Gabriel was grabbing his hand and one of his older brother's hands so they could help him jump along with their walking in big leaps.

"Chimpanzees are the best tool users after humans," Castiel went on talking, as they continued to walk toward the gift shop, letting the little archangel jump as high into the air as their arms would allow ever so often.

The younger Winchester chuckled when his son laughed loudly and nodded politely as the angel kept on talking about monkeys and especially chimps. Someone was a bit of a fanboy, apparently. It seemed only logical to buy the shirt saying 'I love chimpanzees' for Castiel as well after Gabriel had chosen the flamingo plushy he wanted to take home.

* * *

_September 13th, 2013_

_Today's newspaper has a short note about a goat disappearing from the local zoo. I hope she's happier now._


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note: **Thanks so much for Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Mello18, FireChildSlytherin5, CassXDeano, midnight0211, keacdragon, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, Tendencia, Allyaneedislove, CherylB1964 , kb18142, Avalonemyst, Sara1988 and Pizzapig for last chapter's reviews! I love you, guys! :-)

I don't know how many of you have seen, but I uploaded the first chapter to a new story yesterday. It's called "Under the sea" and it's one of my animal AUs, so expect all the crack that my duck or hamster AUs had. I'd be happy if a few of you decided to check it out!**  
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**13**

_January 6th, 2014_

_There are a couple of playgroups for children your age in Sioux Falls and one of them is even rather close to our neighborhood. I guess we can give it a shot. You really should be around kids your age more often, Gabe._

* * *

Sam had tried to enroll Gabriel in pre school, he really had. It hadn't been an easy decision, because the younger Winchester was very protective of his son and didn't want to leave him in the care of somebody else. Other members of their family were the obvious exceptions. Of course, Sam knew that the little boy really needed to get into contact with other kids his age, though.

So, he had found a good pre school that wasn't too far from their home and had arranged that he could take Gabriel there for a day to look how his son would react to the new environment. To say that it hadn't gone well would be a huge understatement.

The younger Winchester had described the tantrum the little boy had thrown to his brother over the phone and Dean had been thoroughly impressed. The older Winchester had thought that Sam had had very bad fits of temper as a child, but if the description was only half true, Gabriel put his father to shame in that department.

The little boy hadn't been taken with the teacher and the entire setup from the very start, but when he had realized that he was supposed to stay there while his father left he had started to kick and yell. The fountain of tears that had followed had settled the matter for the younger Winchester. Gabriel wasn't going to stay at that place. Hell, the little boy would have zapped himself away from the pre school and back to his father within minutes, anyway! That little fact had made Sam feel better about giving in as quickly as he had, too.

Anyway, after that failed attempt the younger Winchester had chosen to do things a little differently. He had looked up playgroups for little kids and had found one with a description he had liked. Apparently, the idea was that the kids would play at the indoors playground while the parents drank coffee and socialized at the other side of the room. That should help to ease Gabriel into the entire business with other children and maybe not focusing on Sam all the time.

"Okay buddy, daddy will stay here with the other mommies and daddies and you go play," the younger Winchester told the little archangel with an encouraging smile, pointing toward the group of children who were running around and playing various games just a couple of feet away from them.

He would be content if Gabriel spent an hour or two just playing with some of the other children without constantly checking if Sam was looking at him, but he supposed that was asked a little too much for their first time there. Well, the little boy would learn given the time.

The archangel didn't look convinced, but he eventually let go of his father's legs and approached the other children. The many toys, jungle gyms and other things apparently were too interesting to stay away from for too long.

Sam looked after Gabriel for a little while, making sure that he found something he liked before he focused on the next task at hand. He was supposed to mingle as well, after all.

As it turned out, the other mommies and daddies were all mommies and from the way the women were looking at the younger Winchester he thought that it wasn't just that day that there were no other adult males around. He immediately vowed to himself not to tell Dean about this place where there only seemed to be women. Then again, he guessed that his brother would be put off by the knowledge that his possible future one night stand had at least one child, anyway. One child he would get to know since he or she was in the room with them, to be precisely. Not to mention that he would be cheating on his angel, whom he was having a completely platonic friendship with. Yeah, right.

Sam gave a few of the mothers a nice smile and went to get himself a cup of coffee, noticing that the gossiping had started. This might turn into a very long afternoon.

* * *

The younger Winchester was convinced that women's magazines were pure evil by the time he finished leafing through the third random magazine he had picked up from the table in the corner. So, he hadn't made an effort to talk to any of the mothers around, but he wasn't the one who was meant to socialize around here, anyway. Besides, if the things he had just read taught him anything, it was that women were damn confusing and at least a little crazy and not in a good way, either.

Granted, it had been a long time since he had lived with Jessica, but he couldn't remember that she had ever spent so much time thinking about anti-aging stuff, counting calories, hair removal or how to behave around him to appear sexy. She had just been herself and he had loved her for it. Wonderful, now he had made himself melancholic!

"Daddy, look!" Gabriel suddenly exclaimed, tearing his father's attention away from thoughts of the past.

Sam hadn't even noticed it before, but the little boy had actually spent quite some time just playing with the others without calling for him. Hey, half an hour wasn't half bad for a kid who was used to yelling for daddy – or uncle Dean, Cas, Bal, Bobo or Jody – every five minutes the latest!

"He is my friend!" Gabriel announced with a big grin, hugging the small Asian looking boy standing next to him until the other boy honest to God squeaked.

The younger Winchester had to say that he was impressed. His boy, the kid who never showed any interest in other children unless they were annoying him, had just made his first friend. The little boy looked nice in his white shirt and jeans and he clearly was very happy to be standing next to Gabriel, too.

"That's great, Gabe," Sam smiled widely and ruffled his son's hair before he offered his hand to the other boy, "Hello. I'm Sam. I am Gabriel's father. What's your name?"

The black-haired boy just stared at the adult, looking nearly scared and huddled closer to the archangel, whispering something into his ear. The two boys whispered back and forth for a little while and the Asian looking boy relaxed again quickly. The younger Winchester frowned slightly, but waited for them to pay attention to him again patiently.

"He is Toshio," Gabriel finally told his father, nodding seriously as he spoke on, "He says hello. He says you are big."

Sam chuckled and nodded along with what his son was saying. Toshio still looked at him with big eyes, but he seemed to be willing to consider him nonthreatening enough. The younger Winchester didn't get to say or do anything else before a petite Asian looking woman hurried their way and started to speak to the little boy in what might have been Japanese for all Sam knew. The kid chattered back and it began to dawn on the younger Winchester that Toshio probably only spoke Japanese which meant that Gabriel probably spoke the language, too. His suspicions were confirmed when his son exclaimed something that made the woman laugh and that Sam couldn't understand.

"I want to keep him!" the archangel explained to his puzzled father with a grin that nearly split his face in half. He obviously enjoyed himself quite a bit that moment and that as much as what he had actually said made Sam laugh for a moment, too.

"You can go back and play some more for now," the younger Winchester told Gabriel, patting his head once more.

The archangel said something in Japanese once more and the two little boys took off toward the ball pit at the far side of the room, giggling and racing each other.

The younger Winchester couldn't help thinking that his son had a knack for picking up lost souls. First the dog nobody wanted to have and now the kid who couldn't communicate with the other kids, because of language barriers. Not to mention that Sam himself had been a lost soul when the archangel had basically been dropped into his arms. Damn, he could have cuddled Gabriel to death – metaphorically spoken – for being his awesome self like that.

"Your son speaks Japanese very well," the woman addressed Sam after the boys had gone back to playing together, "Toshio is very lucky to have met him."

The younger Winchester smiled slightly and nodded politely. It didn't come as a big surprise that Gabriel would speak Japanese. Hell, he could talk to flamingos and their family dog, speaking foreign languages was rather ordinary in comparison.

"His grandfather and a couple of family friends speak Japanese. They must have taught Gabriel a thing or two," Sam explained with a casual shrug, "Hi, I'm Sam."

And suddenly the littlest archangel wasn't the only one who had made a connection to someone.

* * *

It sure was good to know that Mari, Toshio's mother, was a nice woman who was really glad to see that her son had found a friend. The family had moved to the US less than a month ago and she had hoped that learning the language would be easier for the kid when he was surrounded by it, but her son was a little shy in general and so he had mostly played alone.

Sam in turn told her about Gabriel's clinginess and that it was impossible to hide sweets from him, especially since he had gotten the dog onboard in searching for them. He also told her that the grandfather he had mentioned before was actually his father figure and not his biological father just to make sure there wouldn't be any misunderstandings in the future. He didn't intend to build a web of lies. It was much too complicated to live with more lies than were absolutely necessary when you intended to stay in one place, after all.

All in all, the only thing the two of them had in common was that each one of them had a little kid they loved with all their hearts, but that was enough to exchange phone numbers, so the two boys could meet more often. Sam also wasn't quite so afraid that he would be bored to death at the playgroup meetings anymore. There would be at least one face he knew and it didn't look like the two of them would run out of stories to tell about their little boys anytime soon.

When most of the mothers started to pack their things together and call for their children Sam spotted Gabriel in the ball pit with his new friend. Toshio was already climbing out to do as his mother told him and put his shoes back on to go home, but the little archangel just gave his father a grin and ducked under the balls until he disappeared completely.

So, this was how the little rascal wanted to play this.

The younger Winchester dutifully toed his shoes off before he stepped on the soft, thin mattresses that covered the floor of the playing area. He thought about saying something like 'Don't make me come in there!' for a moment, but that probably was exactly what Gabriel would want and while the kid was a damn genius, it was doubtful that he would understand that adults weren't meant to be in ball pits.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Sam called playfully instead and reached into the mass of balls, trying to get his hands on any part of his son. He nearly got his foot once, but Gabriel was very quick when he wanted to be and the younger Winchester wasn't completely convinced that his son was playing fair, either. It was like trying to catch an eel, really.

Sam sat down on the floor next to the ball pit with a sigh. "I don't want to go home without my Gabey-Baby," he announced in a faked sad tone, "I'll miss him so much and Cookie will miss him, too."

He was pretty sure that he hadn't fooled the archangel with that little show – not to mention that he usually wouldn't be caught dead calling his boy Gabey-Baby – but mere seconds passed before the nearly four year old hugged him tightly and pressed a wet kiss against his cheek.

"Should we come here again soon?" the younger Winchester asked the little boy after they had both put their shoes back on. He was pretty sure that Gabriel had enjoyed going to the playgroup, already. As far as Sam had noticed, the boy had ignored all the other children after he had found Toshio, but whenever the adults had looked over to them they had seemed to have a blast.

"Yes!" the archangel yelled, basically jumping on his father to show him that he had no intention to walk back to the car on his own two feet, "I promised Toshio!"

That settled it then. Promises were important and had to be kept, after all.

* * *

_Don't you think that you can talk about me behind my back only because you have a friend who speaks Japanese now, Gabe!_


	14. Chapter 14

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Imapala67-Ilana, midnight0211, Tendencia, FireChildSlytherin5, kb18142, musicfiend2392, SARA1988, CherylB1964, Maddy Love Castiel, Pizzapig, keacdragon, Avalonemyst, L. Greene, Nyx Ro, Keefer and Evelina for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

* * *

**14**

_March 19th, 2014_

_I guess it was inevitable. Being among a bunch of kids as often as we are lately, one of us was bound to catch something. Obviously, you couldn't be the one to come down with the flu…_

* * *

"Who's at the door?" Sam rasped, looking at his son inquisitively. He had figured out that the archangel always knew who was visiting them as soon as they announced their presence in any way – if he already knew the people, anyway – and now that simply getting out of bed was a strenuous task the younger Winchester thought he had the right justification to use his son's powers for his own benefit just a little.

"Jody!" Gabriel replied happily. The little boy stood up from the carpet he had been sitting on and walked out of his father's bedroom to open the front door for the sheriff with a blink of his eyes. He understood that he was not meant to do this for anyone who wasn't family, but he really enjoyed the slightly tingly feeling doing things like that gave him. He liked the good feeling his father's joy about him being a good boy gave him more, though. Of course, he sometimes forgot or simply ignored that in favor of doing whatever the hell came to his mind that very moment, but that was what little boys did.

To tell the truth, the younger Winchester was nearly relieved to see that his son was just like any other kid his age at times, even if it meant temper tantrums and doing forbidden things.

"Thanks buddy," Sam sighed and leaned back into the pillows. This stupid virus really had him in its grip and it didn't look like it would go away anytime soon. At least, Gabriel made sure that he didn't have to get out of bed all too often and the little boy kept him company nearly the entire time, too.

Bobby had offered to babysit the archangel for a couple of days until the younger Winchester was feeling better, but they hadn't even been through the front door of the older hunter's house before Gabriel had zapped himself back to his father. Apparently, he didn't dream of leaving as long as Sam wasn't feeling well.

"Jody, Jody!" the archangel yelled excitedly, nearly dancing around the woman as she walked toward the bedroom with a tray in her hands, "I'm helping!"

Sheriff Mills gave the boy a nice smile and nodded dutifully as he told her about the things he had done for his father, including making sure that he had enough tissues and that the tea stayed warm and that there was tea to begin with. Of course, he didn't go anywhere near boiling water, but he knew how to make the drink appear exactly like his daddy liked it, too.

"You're an angel," Jody commented appreciatively after she put the tray on the bedside table. Sure, Gabriel could have conjured soup and crackers up for Sam to eat, but the sheriff wanted to check on the younger Winchester ever so often and bringing over food was giving her a good excuse to do so.

"Yes!" the archangel nodded and hopped onto the bed to take a look at the things Jody had brought with her, too, "I am like Spiderman!"

His daddy had sat him down a while ago and had explained to him that he could do all these things that nobody else could and that that was great and very exciting, but Gabriel had to be like Spiderman and keep it a secret. Obviously, the family was allowed to know and when one of them gave the okay then he could do whatever he wanted. The archangel was content enough with that for now. He was too little to be a full-fledged Spiderman, anyway.

"Thanks Jody," Sam coughed. Sheriff Mills had brought vegetable soup, crackers and chocolate muffins for him and Gabriel that day and the younger Winchester felt honestly touched by the gesture. It was the third day Jody had brought them lunch and had checked on them, after all.

"Exactly like Spiderman, secret identity and all," the sheriff nodded seriously, stroking the little boy's cheek for a moment.

They had all been able to agree that the analogy with the superhero might work best to explain to Gabriel that he wasn't a completely normal kid, but that that was a good thing. Of course, Dean had to point out that Spiderman was a wuss and a bad choice for a Superhero. He was willing to go along with it anyway, though.

Jody stayed until the two youngest Winchesters had eaten their food, making small talk about the weather and the things the little boy got up to while he was stuck inside with his daddy. She left with the promise of a hamburger and pie for Gabriel for the next day.

* * *

Sam awoke from his afternoon nap with a start when Cookie abruptly sat up at the foot of the bed he had been sleeping at and growled.

"Crowley," the younger Winchester groaned more out of annoyance than anything else. He still wasn't scared of the king of hell and he didn't think that the demon had popped in to cause trouble, but that didn't mean that the visit was welcome.

Gabriel rubbed his eyes sleepily and snuggled closer to his father's side before he was fully awake and looked at the cause of the disturbance curiously. Cookie was still growling silently but threateningly and only stopped when the littlest Winchester gave him a few signs. The dog still glared at Crowley when he jumped off the bed and went over to where the little boy was sitting to get his head scratched.

"My invitation to the house warming party must have been lost in the mail," the king of hell commented dryly, looking around himself critically. He had to say that the house was probably nice enough for someone used to living in a car and at Bobby Singer's place. Crowley himself could never settle for something like this, however.

"That complaint comes a little late," Sam shot back as sarcastically as he could with his sore throat and his stuffed nose. Gabriel was still sitting next to him, petting Cookie. The little boy was starting to get really interested in the conversation the two adults were having, though.

"A sore throat has to be a real hassle for a giraffe," Crowley stated casually, "I could help with that."

The demon's offer sounded innocent enough and it was highly doubtful that he would even dare to make a contract of any sort with any member of their family, but the comment still hit too close to home and Sam didn't have that much patience in his state, anyway.

"Fuck off," the younger Winchester replied acidly. He really wasn't in the mood for an argument or for the demon's stupid sense of humor and the king of hell might as well know it.

"Fuck off!" Gabriel repeated and started to giggle as soon as the bad words left his mouth. He knew exactly what bad words were, he just enjoyed taking every chance he got to say them. The moment his daddy used them was the perfect opportunity, of course. The adult could barely lecture him about keeping the swearing to a minimum when he himself didn't do it, after all. Toshio would be so delighted to hear that new curse, too! His mother not so much.

"Look at the little monkey, isn't he precious?" Crowley asked with a smirk.

"Monkeys are awesome!" Gabriel insisted, giving the demon a stern look just in case he had dared to insult monkeys. It was bad enough that Cookie kept telling the archangel that the visitor was bad news and that he should be commanded to leave immediately. The little boy was placated when the king of hell raised his hands in defeat, however.

Sam rubbed his temples, feeling the headache that he had because of the fever he was running spike to before unknown heights. Damned demon and his damned surprise visit and his damned bad timing!

Gabriel looked at his daddy worriedly for a moment before he leaned in to press a quick kiss to Sam's forehead and jumped off the bed, running toward his own room with Cookie at his heels. The dog was more than happy to leave the room with the weird and creepy guy, even if he felt a little bad about leaving their sick pack leader behind. Then again, Cookie's main concern always was looking out for the little boy and Sam usually encouraged that line of thinking, too.

"You teach him all the important things in life, don't you?" Crowley snarked as soon as the little boy and the dog had left. Monkeys were awesome and curse words. Winchesters had a strange sense of things children should learn. If the demon had anything to say then Gabriel would already know how to use his powers to enslave the entire world, of course.

"Go on criticizing my parenting and I'll teach him to smite all demons on sight," Sam muttered. It was a completely empty threat, though. He wouldn't have shed a tear if Crowley had spontaneously combusted, but the damage done to Gabriel's very innocent mind would be something to mourn over.

"I think you underestimate how much the little bugger likes me," Crowley pointed out smugly.

If looks could have killed, the demon would have dropped dead. It was quite possible that Sam was overreacting, but he had a headache, he felt damn sore all over and he hadn't slept properly in days, because of this freaking flu, so excuse him for being very touchy and easily annoyed by a being that generally annoyed him, even on a good day!

"Daddy needs peace and quiet!" Gabriel suddenly pointed out with all the seriousness he had learned from his dark-haired brother, aiming a water pistol at the demon.

The little boy had run to his room to retrieve the gun, made a little detour over the bathroom to fill it and then come back to the bedroom to tell the king of hell that he had to behave and not make Sam upset, if he wanted to stay longer. Sure, he could have just said those things without his water pistol, but where was the fun in that? Besides, the people in uncle Dean's movies often used a gun to let others see that they were super serious about something!

"Now I'm really scared," Crowley couldn't help replying in a mocking tone, holding his hands up. The archangel had just proven his point, however. The kid didn't want to actually hurt him, or he wouldn't have gone to get a toy, he would have just done it. There was proof that he knew all too well how to do it, if he just set his mind on it.

"You better are," Gabriel grinned widely, satisfied with the reaction he had gotten, but he hadn't made the effort to retrieve the gun not to use it.

It was hard to say if the demon, the angel or the human were more surprised by what happened when the little boy took a shot at Crowley. To the demon's credit it had to be said that he didn't make a sound even as his face burned and smoked, though.

Gabriel dropped the gun like he had been burned, as well. His eyes were already watering before he managed to jump onto the bed and huddle against his father in search of comfort. He was full on crying when Sam wrapped his arms around him and tried to calm him down.

"Gabe, look at me," the younger Winchester demanded in a gentle tone, rubbing his son's back as the boy was sobbing, "You didn't mean it, right? And Crowley isn't really hurt and I'm sure he'll forgive you, if you tell him you're sorry."

If the damned king of hell thought that he didn't have to at least pay lip service and make the archangel feel better with it then Sam would have to get out of bed and get his hands on the hunter's equipment he kept under the floorboards downstairs! Even if the demon was technically the victim here, the younger Winchester wouldn't allow him to be an ass about it and give Gabriel a bad conscience, especially when the little boy tried his best to voice how very sorry he was and that Crowley should please forgive him. Of course, the words were nearly unintelligible, because he was still crying and choked up, but it was easy enough to tell what he was trying to say.

The demon groaned quietly. Oh, the things you had to do to make sure that an archangel had fond memories of you!

"It's all good," Crowley confirmed, looking back at the two Winchesters with the best impression of a benign smile he could give, "I forgive you."

Wasn't that a strange thing to say for a demon? He really hoped that word of this wouldn't get back to anyone in hell!

Gabriel sniffled and looked at the king of hell like he was trying to figure out, if he could trust him in this. He had to be happy with what he saw, because it was only a moment later that he jumped up and threw himself at Crowley, hugging the hell out of him, metaphorically spoken.

"Sorry Cowley!" the archangel mumbled against the suit the king of hell was wearing.

"No, no, no. Crow-ley, Crow," the demon corrected, glaring at the younger Winchester when he dared to look amused. This was what you got for paying those stupid Winchesters a goodwill visit!

"Did you get that, kid?" Crowley asked after he had allowed Gabriel to hug him some more.

"Yes Cowley," the little boy replied with a serious nod. There was a definite spark of mischievousness in his eyes, though. Obviously, he had gotten over the shock of accidentally hurting someone very quickly.

Sam couldn't help laughing out loud this time, even though his headache became even worse because of it.

* * *

_Things we learned today? Crowley is a bit of a pushover and an archangel handling water equals holy water._


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, FireChildSlytherin5, Evelina, Pizzapig, Avalonemyst, keacdragon, Tendencia, CherylB1964, sara1988, Maddy Love Castiel, midnight0211, Mello18, CassXDeano and kb18142 for last chapter's reviews! You guys rock!

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**15**

_October 31st, 2014_

_I swear, Halloween is your favorite holiday. Of course, you love Easter, Christmas and your birthday, but the combination of getting to dress up, lots of sweet and being outside late just makes Halloween better than any of the others to you. This year we also get to take your friend Toshio out for some trick or treating with us…._

* * *

Sam, Gabriel and Toshio were standing in front of Bobby's house. They started their trick or treating marathon at the older hunter's house every year, so the archangel could show off his newest costume to his grandfather-figure. Jody unfortunately had to work that day, so they would have to make do with showing her pictures. Well, she had helped with picking out the costumes, so she knew what to expect, anyway.

The younger Winchester was a little surprised that Balthazar hadn't shown his face, yet. The angel generally spent a couple of hours with them at Halloween and he knew that they had decided to leave at five. He hadn't shown up however and Sam hadn't been able to wait for the angel for long, because Gabriel had started to get very antsy and they had had to pick up Toshio. Balthazar would be able to find them as soon as he could be bothered to zap himself to Sioux Falls, anyway.

"Trick or treat!" the archangel yelled the very second Bobby opened the door for them. His friend kept quiet, but held the orange bucket he was carrying toward the older hunter to receive some sweets, at least. The kid was rather shy, even if his English was improving very quickly, he just didn't feel too comfortable speaking to strangers.

Bobby was clearly amused to see the trio in their costumes. Yes, Sam had had to dress up as well that year. He had been lucky to get away with something that wasn't too far from his usual outfits, however. The older hunter gave a handful of sweets to Gabriel and Toshio each and handed a mini candy bar to the younger Winchester for good measure.

"I ought to give you grass or vegetables instead," Bobby told the little boys seriously. They were dressed up as two sheep, after all. Feeding them candy could barely be species-appropriate.

"Grandbaaa!" the archangel replied, trying to go for an outraged tone, but he just had to snicker because of his own little joke. He then turned to Toshio and made a few quick comments in Japanese that made his friend laugh and when Bobby joined the conversation it looked like the black-haired boy warmed up to the older hunter quickly, as well.

Sam simply leaned on the staff he had to carry around as the boys' shepherd, just waiting for them to be done talking. Someone would eventually tell him what had been said. He could wait for that.

"Nice hat," Balthazar suddenly commented from behind the younger Winchester.

The hat and the staff were the only things Sam wouldn't usually wear, because his flannel shirt, jeans and boots worked for a shepherd costume, anyway. He was just about to ask the angel where the hell he had been, but the moment he turned around and got the first glimpse of Balthazar's costume all words were forgotten in favor of just staring disbelievingly.

"Baaal!" Gabriel bleated happily, taking Toshio's hand and pulling the other boy over to his bigger brother along with him.

Unfortunately, this also brought the adult angel's presence to the older hunter's attention. Bobby's reaction was about as strong as Sam had feared it would be. "Get off my property!"

The younger Winchester gave an awkward smile and ushered the two boys toward the car, giving his father-figure an apologetic look. He really hadn't known what Balthazar was up to and he knew that Bobby didn't blame him or the kids for it, anyway. It still seemed the best to just get everyone into the car and get to town for some serious trick or treating before the blonde angel got the chance to annoy the older hunter even further.

"Is that a way to treat a lady?" Balthazar asked in mock indignation, tucking a strand of the short brown hair of his wig behind his ear and adjusting his fake breasts in the police uniform he had borrowed.

"That's not very funny," Sam hissed toward the adult angel after they had strapped the two little boys into their car seats at the backseat. Alright, the younger Winchester might have thought it was funny, if not for the effect the joke had had on Bobby. As things were, he had to take the older hunter's side in this.

Dean might still think it was funny, though. Funnier than last year's Dean costume, anyway. Then again, the older Winchester wouldn't have been as offended as he had been, if Balthazar hadn't carried a Castiel plushy around the entire evening, cuddling it for the picture he had sent to Dean and letting it sit on his shoulder. Sam wasn't going to complain about the angel plushy, however. Gabriel had been very taken with it and had received it as a gift at the end of their little tour, after all. The matching Balthazar plushy had followed for Christmas.

"Depends on who you ask, pal," the angel shot back, batting his eyelashes for good measure, "Do you think my Jody costume is funny, kids?"

"Yes!" Gabriel exclaimed unsurprisingly while Toshio was hiding his face in his hands, thinking that his giggling was more inconspicuous that way.

* * *

"Candy corn for the two little sheep," Jody stated with a smile, handing the candy over to the two little boys who looked at her expectantly.

They hadn't been walking around for long until the sheriff had spotted them and had stopped for a moment to say hello and take a closer look at the costume now that Gabriel was wearing it. Apparently, Toshio's mother had followed their suggestion and had bought the same one for her son, so the two little boys were matching perfectly. They really looked nothing but precious and Sam seemed happy enough with his minimalistic costume, too.

"What about me?" Balthazar asked with a smirk, holding his hand open as if he actually expected to receive some sweets, too.

"I am not exactly sure what you are supposed to be," Jody replied with a deep frown. Secretly, she was quite pleased that the angel had chosen to dress up as her, though. He had systematically gone through the people he considered family in the past few years and Sheriff Mills liked to know that she was one of them.

"Bal is you!" Gabriel explained, grinning. His friend nodded seriously, as well. The likeness was definitely there, especially now that the two adults were standing next to each other.

"Oh, I couldn't tell with all that make-up," Jody stated seriously, letting the little boy believe that he had just told her something she honestly hadn't known. She had to say that the angel really had overdone it with the make-up, though. While she used some every now and then, especially for the rare occasions when Bobby took her out, she didn't think that she even possessed as much mascara as Balthazar had used for that evening alone.

"Who is prettier?" the blonde angel suddenly asked, standing next to the sheriff and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Jody," Gabriel answered immediately, nodding very seriously. Toshio agreed, nodding along with his friend. Both Sam and Jody laughed while Balthazar tried to look hurt. He had to admit that he stood no chance against the original, though. Not that the woman was his type – and Bobby would deep fry him in holy oil for even thinking of it – but she did look good for her age and considering that she didn't put much effort into looking as good as she did. The angel on the other hand had put a lot of effort into looking like he was wearing a costume instead of looking like a drag queen or an actual woman.

"Daddy, we lose time!" the archangel suddenly insisted. He knew that Mari wanted Toshio to be back at home at a specific time, so they needed to hurry and try to see all the houses before they had to abandon the mission.

"Yeah, right," Sam agreed, using his staff to carefully get the boys back on the sidewalk and facing the next house they would go to. Maybe he should keep the thing. It sure made steering the kids into the right direction easier, as long as they were playing sheep, anyway. "We'll tell you how it went tomorrow over coffee."

Jody nodded and waved at the two boys and their adult companions before they went their separate ways again.

The next house was the one Sam dreaded going to every year. The old lady had been convinced that he and Balthazar were a couple from the very first year she had seen them on and no matter how many hints the younger Winchester dropped, she still thought they were both Gabriel's fathers.

"Trick or treat!" the archangel yelled happily and since this was about the seventh house they went to Toshio mumbled along, looking up to the old woman shyly. He clearly was getting better at this, too. The little boy obviously was learning from Gabriel which filled Sam with pride. The younger Winchester was very happy that his little boy was as willing as he was to just take his friend by the hand and give him the confidence to do things he usually might not do.

"Oh, it's you," the woman cooed, pinching the archangel's cheek before she just took the bowl with sweets and let the two boys choose whatever they wanted to have. She was rather lucky that both kids had a basic sense of moderation. Well, Toshio barely dared to take two pieces of candy. Gabriel was clearly struggling with self-restraint, but he managed to only pick one piece of each different candy in the bowl he liked. They both also thanked the woman very politely, going as far as bowing slightly, a habit the archangel had picked up from his Japanese friend. Once more, Sam was rather proud of his son.

"Did you two adopt again?" the old lady suddenly wanted to know and the younger Winchester's smile wavered a little. He really didn't want to explain this again, especially knowing that she either wouldn't believe him or forget it by the time they next saw her, anyway.

"Oh, he's just a friend of our Gabriel," Balthazar spoke up before Sam could get a word in edgewise, "Isn't that right, darling?"

So help him God, the younger Winchester nearly punched the angel straight in the face when he leaned over to kiss his cheek. Balthazar was lucky that both Gabriel and Toshio were watching them. Sam balled his fists but tried to smile when the archangel looked at him worriedly. Gabriel still hugged his father's legs and kissed his cheek where his brother had earlier when he bowed down enough for him to reach his face.

"Let's get going," the younger Winchester suggested, taking a deep breath. He wasn't quite sure why a simple gesture like that had caused such a strong reaction in him, but he felt a lot calmer again and he hoped that Balthazar wouldn't do something like it again.

"Sorry, mate," the angel even apologized once the two boys ran up to the next house. Balthazar might enjoy annoying the Winchesters and their extended family whenever he could, but that didn't mean that he didn't realize when he had crossed boundaries that he shouldn't have.

"Don't ever do that again," Sam demanded in a hushed tone, walking after his son and the other boy, "And not one word to Dean!"

Balthazar chuckled but nodded dutifully. No more kisses for the tall human. The angel preferred kissing other people, anyway.

Before the two adults had even reached the door Gabriel came back toward them, dragging Toshio along behind him. The archangel walked away from the house very determinedly, barely waiting for his father and brother to follow him.

Sam didn't know what had just happened, but he was sure that the two boys hadn't rung the doorbell or knocked on the door and nobody had opened for them or anything alike. He quickened his steps, caught up with his son and stopped him before they reached the next house.

"Gabe, what was that?" the younger Winchester asked in a soft tone, crouching down so he was on one eye-level with the little boy. The archangel didn't look very sad or distraught. He just looked like he had set his mind on getting away from that one house and to some other place. Sam still didn't like it. There had to be a reason for this sort of behavior.

"It's a bad house," Gabriel replied very gravely, never letting go of his friend's hand like he was afraid that the other little boy might go back to the place.

The younger Winchester nodded and let his son grab his hand and drag him and Toshio to the next house after he had given Balthazar a short look. The adult angel nodded and turned back toward the place that had spooked Gabriel for some reason. They weren't going to ignore it when an archangel thought there was something fishy about a place!

The shepherd and his two little sheep were five houses further down the street before Balthazar returned.

"It's not a bad house anymore. It's for sale now, though," he stated casually while Toshio was busy inspecting the new sweets he had received, "Will be soon, anyway."

Sam really thought that he didn't want to know what exactly that meant, but he was glad that whatever it was had been dealt with and Gabriel seemed to agree.

* * *

_Later that evening you told me that you suddenly had a cold feeling in your heart when you got closer to that house. Balthazar wouldn't tell me what exactly was going on there, but it's a safe bet that it wasn't anything good. I'm glad to see that you have this sixth sense for places to steer clear of, in any case._


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendencia, Impala67-Ilana, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, L. Greene, kb18142, Pizzapig, CherylB1964, Avalonemyst, SARA1988, keacdragon, Keefer and Shorty22133 for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

Your reviews always make my days, thank you all for that!

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**16**

_March 25th, 2015_

_Writing about what happened today is hard, Gabe. My hands are still shaking only thinking about it…_

* * *

Sam had never been a deep sleeper. A life of hunting and the nightmares that came with it had made sure that he could go from sleeping to fully alert in record time. Sure, he hadn't had to jump out of bed in the middle of the night because of any emergency calls, ghosts or demons in years, but it was hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Unless that dog was Cookie and Gabriel was the one coaxing him into doing things that was.

So, when the bedroom door opened the younger Winchester was immediately alert enough to make space in his bed for his five year old and possibly their family dog. Cookie often took the opportunity to get to sleep on the nice and cozy bed for a while when Gabriel woke up very early and decided that he wanted to get some cuddles from his daddy before he either went back to sleep or the day got really started.

Sam frowned and opened his eyes when the little archangel still wasn't wrapped around him a few seconds later. What he saw immediately chased the last traces of sleep away.

Gabriel was looking at his father with big eyes that were filled with yet unshed tears. As soon as the younger Winchester sat upright and pulled his son into his lap to hug him tightly the dam broke and he started to sob and cling to his father, whimpering silently.

They had dealt with nightmares and the one or the other little injury that didn't leave a mark on the little boy's body but still freaked him out for a while before, but this felt different. Gabriel hadn't said a word or given any sign as to what had happened and the quiet whimpers sounded so pained that they made shivers run down Sam's spine. It was also worrying that simply hugging and holding him didn't seem to make anything better as it usually did.

"It's okay, baby," the younger Winchester whispered soothingly, rocking the archangel gently, "Tell me what happened."

Really, as long as he didn't have a clue what all this was about he didn't know what to do about it, either. He really didn't like feeling as helpless as he did that very moment.

"Hurts," Gabriel whimpered, pressing himself closer to his father. He couldn't understand why it wasn't helping like it usually was, though.

"What hurts?" Sam asked, forcing his voice to sound calm and collected. When he himself had been a child and had been hurt he had always felt better knowing that Dean would know what was to do and would make it better. He remembered freaking out pretty badly a couple of times when his brother had looked at him like he was scared, as well. Once the one person you completely trusted with your life got panicky, you knew that you were screwed.

The archangel didn't say anything, but after a few moments of finding the best position to wrap his little arms and legs around the adult to keep him as close as possible he reluctantly raised one hand and pointed at his head.

Sam nodded, trying to look like he knew exactly what there was to do and got out of bed, his son still clinging to him. Taking him downstairs and finding something to distract the kid with while he called Castiel sounded like the best option they had.

If the younger Winchester hadn't already been worried before, he would have been after Gabriel's complete refusal of hot chocolate or sweets. The pain had to be quite bad for that to happen.

By the time Sam got them both seated on the couch the archangel's sobs had grown in volume and he was whimpering even more. Cookie was making a few pitiful noises of his own, because he had no idea what was going on that was making his little owner so sad and his big owner so worried.

"Castiel, Balthazar, wherever you are and whatever you are doing please get over here immediately! Gabriel is hurt," the younger Winchester prayed, adding a silent 'amen' at the end.

This wasn't something he could deal with on his own. If Gabriel was a normal kid, he would have taken him to the hospital at this point, but if the archangel couldn't heal himself, then a doctor wouldn't do him any good, either.

Balthazar arrived first. The snarky comment he had clearly been about to make died on his lips when he heard the five year old whimper. The entire scene looked all too serious, with the distraught boy and his clearly worried father. Hell, even the dog was suffering, apparently.

"What happened?" Balthazar asked with a deep frown. They had all met up for Gabriel's birthday just one day earlier and the little archangel had been completely fine then!

Sam had just opened his mouth to answer as best as he could, but Castiel's arrival interrupted him. The big surprise came in the form of the older Winchester who was holding the angel's hand and collapsed on the couch as soon as the other man let him go. He had never gotten used to this form of travelling – actually he hadn't allowed Cas to transport him anywhere in years – but when the angel had told him that he needed to go because of Sam's emergency prayer, he hadn't hesitated for a second before he had insisted to come along.

"I woke up this morning and he was like this," Sam finally explained, swallowing hard, "He said his head hurt, but other than that…"

It didn't look like Gabriel had even noticed that there were other people around. He was still whimpering and clutching any part of his father he could get his hands on, single tears running down his already red face.

The younger Winchester continued to make silent shushing noises while rubbing the little boy's back, even as he watched the looks Castiel and Balthazar were exchanging. He wasn't sure if he should be comforted by seeing that they apparently had an idea of what had happened, or if he should be even more worried because they obviously didn't want to share with the class. Dean took the decision whether to address it or not away from him which Sam was actually very glad for.

"Cas, remember that 'you're a human and wouldn't understand'-look of yours I hate so much?" the older Winchester asked with a raised eyebrow, "You're doing it right now."

The angel had the good grace to look nearly abashed. Castiel had had that discussion with Dean before and he understood that the human wasn't too fond of him hiding things from him. Not that the dark-haired angel was very good at keeping anything from his human, anyway.

"It seems that Gabriel is somehow receiving celestial and terrestrial signals that are overwhelming his senses," Castiel explained seriously, noticing that the humans weren't exactly sure what he was talking about, so he decided to make himself clearer with an example, "I trust you remember the state Anna was in when you first met her."

Sam held Gabriel a little tighter and mumbled reassuring word against his hair. He could remember all too clearly how the red-haired angel had struggled with hearing angel-radio and knowing that his five year old was going through something similar made his insides churn.

"He's listening to angel radio now?" Dean asked to make sure that he had understood correctly. He didn't like the thought that his nephew heard other people talking in his head any more than his younger brother did. The voices were obviously bothering Gabriel a lot which was a good enough reason to find a way to switch them off for him, too.

"Angel radio and prayers," Balthazar commented in a grave tone, "And we are wasting time here. We should get him to heaven and take care of this!"

Castiel nodded before Dean had the chance to ask if the blonde angel was fucking serious. Huh, so probably it wasn't a crazy idea, after all. The older Winchester didn't quite like the idea of his nephew going anywhere close to heaven, though.

"Do you have any idea how many people are praying to Gabriel right now? He's damn popular," Balthazar explained before either one of the Winchester brothers could start to argue and keep them from what had to be done even longer, "When we get him to heaven the prayers will be a further away and thus quieter and we should be able to work something out once he has calmed down a little."

There was no use trying to teach the archangel any sort of techniques as long as he was as distressed as he was, but if they could take some of the pressure away he would surely be more open to learning the techniques that might help him to deal with this. For the first time, it was nearly a pity that none of the other archangels were around to assist the little one, however. They would have known best what it was like to deal with an awfully great load of prayers. Neither Castiel nor Balthazar had that problem.

"We will take good care of Gabriel and return as soon as possible," Castiel promised after a short moment of silence. It wasn't too clear if he was talking to Sam or Dean. Most likely he had meant both of them.

The younger Winchester nodded with a deep sigh. Everything to stop the pain Gabriel was in! He trusted Cas and Balthazar to guard the little boy with everything they had and there didn't seem to be a better option, anyway.

"Gabe," Sam said in a soft tone, stroking his son's cheek with the back of his fingers, "Cas and Bal are taking you somewhere to make you feel better, okay?"

He wasn't quite sure if Gabriel had even heard him, at first. The way the little boy clung to him harder and screamed and cried when his father tried to hand him over to Balthazar made clear that he wasn't in the right mindset for being reasonable or wanting to be with anyone but his daddy, though.

"Gabriel, listen to me," Sam stated in a demanding tone he hardly ever used with the kid, so the archangel knew he was being very serious when he did, "Balthazar and Castiel will make the hurt go away and I want you to go with them now."

Gabriel was still crying, but he let go of his father and allowed his brother to carry him finally. The expression on the little boy's face nearly broke the younger Winchester's heart. He hadn't seen his son this scared in a long time.

"Daddy loves you," Sam forced a little smile and kissed his son's forehead before the three angels disappeared in a flutter of wings. He really just hoped that this would be over and nothing but a bad memory soon.

* * *

The younger Winchester forced a smile when Jody handed a cup of tea to him. The sheriff and Bobby had come over as soon as Sam had called them to inform them about what had happened. Call him selfish, but he really had wanted to have his family around for the waiting time and he thought that Gabriel would enjoy seeing them all as soon as he could return, too. He couldn't bring himself to fully believe that Castiel and Balthazar would find a solution that would return the archangel to the happy child he had been until a couple of hours ago, but he was trying his best to believe it, all the same.

It was easy to see that Bobby and Jody were worried, too. The older hunter was stroking the sheriff's arm reassuringly ever so often. Under different circumstances Sam would have thought they made a really cute couple and Dean would have teased them a little, but as things were they all had other things to think about.

"Come on, Sammy. Cas knows what he's doing," the older Winchester pointed out, sounding so convinced that his younger brother nearly believed him. There weren't that many people Dean put his full trust in, but Castiel clearly was one of them.

"I just…" Sam sighed before he started again, "If I knew more about these things… I'm feeling so useless…"

Of course, he should have tried to learn more about angels in general and especially archangels when he was taking care of one. But no, he had to decide that they would just take things as they were coming up and now Gabriel was paying for it.

"Don't even think of it, son," Bobby stated in a gruff tone before the younger Winchester could say any more stupid things, "Nobody said raising kids was easy. You just hit a rough patch. Suck it up, keep your head held high and remember that you're exactly the father the kid wanted to have!"

Jody smiled slightly, squeezing the older hunter's hand. Even after all those years she was still sometimes surprised when any of the men showed their more sensitive side. Every time it happened it reminded her why she wouldn't want to be around any other group of people, though.

"And a damn good one at that," Dean added, a little embarrassed for getting so close to an actual chick flick moment.

"I had a great teacher," Sam smiled slightly and – yeah – the chick flick territory had definitely been reached. The older Winchester nodded his acknowledgement and patted his brother's shoulder for a moment to get them back to manlier waters again.

Both Winchesters had never been happier to hear the flutter of wings.

"Daddy!" Gabriel yelled, nearly jumping out of Castiel's hold and into his father's arms. This time he acknowledged the presence of the other people around, as well. The little boy gave each of them a big grin before he casually announced, "I'm hungry!"

The younger Winchester nearly laughed when the immense feeling of relief washed over him. This clearly was his little boy as he lived and breathed.

"Uh… Cas, didn't you have that douchy brother of yours with you earlier?" Dean frowned slightly. It was a surprise that Balthazar hadn't returned with the other two, but he probably had just decided that he had seen enough of his baby brother at the birthday party and could go back to one of his orgies or whatever else he was doing in his spare time these days now.

"We were successful at showing Gabriel how to shut out angel radio, but the prayers wouldn't go as easily. Balthazar took it upon himself to intercept them, so they wouldn't reach Gabriel any longer. He stayed in heaven to meditate and work through his new burden," Castiel replied in a rather hard tone, "You should show him some respect, Dean."

When Jody returned from the kitchen with a glass of apple juice and a few cookies for Gabriel she found all four men speechless. Bobby would surely explain what all this was about to her later on and if he didn't, she would have to coax it out of him. Not that that usually was too hard.

"I'm sorry, Cas," Dean apologized when Gabriel was happily munching away on his cookies and the others were distracted with making a fuss over the little boy, "He's your brother and you trust him. I respect that and I'll try to respect him, too."

Castiel's smile was one of the widest any of them had ever seen on the angel's face. With the possible exception of Dean, but who knew what exactly those two were getting up to all the time they spent alone with each other?

"As long as he's not a douchebag to me," the older Winchester quickly added to distract from the second chick flick moment he found himself in that day, "It's not disrespect if it's self-defense!"

"Yes, Dean," Castiel agreed, but his smile didn't waver.

* * *

_You insisted on sleeping in my bed tonight and to tell you the truth I'm glad to have you somewhere I can watch you closely to make sure you're really okay now. I think we both got quite the scare there. But sometimes bad things happen to remind us of all the good things that are there, too. I have said it before, but I'll gladly say it again; we have an awesome family, Gabe._


	17. Chapter 17

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Bluegonfalon, L. Greene. Pizzapig, FireChildSlytherin5, Maddy Love Castiel, Avalonemyst, CherylB1964, Tendencia, Mello18, define crazy, kb18142 and CassXDeano for last chapter's reviews!

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**17**

_July 8th, 2015_

_I can't tell you when exactly I came up with this idea and right now I can't even tell you why I even thought it might be a good one, but now that things have been set into motion I guess I'll just have to go through with it._

* * *

Of all the things Sam had never thought he would do buying one of Chuck Shurley's – or Carver Edlund's – Supernatural books had been pretty high up on the list.

The thought that it might not be such a bad idea had first crossed the younger Winchester's mind pretty early after sort of adopting Gabriel, however. A few of them would have stories about the trickster archangel in them, after all.

It wasn't clear if the little boy would remember his previous life as he grew up. The thing was that he knew he was an angel and he would eventually start to ask more questions about that, though. Gabriel was a smart kid, so he would most surely start to wonder how he could be the archangel Gabriel when he hadn't existed even nearly as long as the stories about him.

To tell the truth, the younger Winchester simply didn't know what to tell his son once that topic came up. He didn't know that much about the old Gabriel and most of the things he did know weren't that nice or flattering. So, he kind of hoped that Chuck's books might be able to give him some insight he didn't have. There might be something about the archangel's motivations or thought process in there, after all.

It still felt incredibly weird to look up the books in which you had unknowingly played one of the main roles for years to find out which ones might be about the last life of your five year old son. Okay, it wasn't that much weirder than being the father of an archangel was in general.

Anyway, it wasn't that hard to get a copy of "Tall Tales" and he very reluctantly ordered a copy of "Mystery Spot" as well, even though he was quite sure he wouldn't touch the latter with a ten foot pole. Sam wasn't quite sure he was ready to read about that seemingly endless string of Tuesdays, didn't know if he would ever be. Damn, he had sort of gotten over it some time ago and there wasn't even the littlest part of him that blamed Gabriel – his son – for the things that the trickster had done back then.

Still, a lot of people – mostly angels and other supernatural beings – had known the trickster and the old Gabriel and that was one thing Sam thought should be dealt with before shit hit the fan, metaphorically spoken. He didn't want his son to ever think that he was a bad person or that any of them hated him for anything he had done before.

The younger Winchester knew that they all agreed on one simple truth. Gabriel wasn't the same person he had been and they all made a difference between the littlest Winchester and the trickster/pagan god/archangel he used to be. He was worried that his son wouldn't be able to see that difference, if he heard about all of this under less than ideal circumstances, though.

The biggest problem with the kind of research on the topic Sam had decided to do was that a big part of Chuck's books had never been published, however. Especially the last two times they had come across Gabriel were parts of stories that the younger Winchester was sure the prophet would have written, but they had never been available in print.

So, two days earlier Sam hadn't seen any other options and had looked up Becky in the phone book. Hell, he wasn't stupid, he had tried everything else before that, but Chuck seemed to have vanished off the face of the Earth. A very small, very sarcastic part of Sam's mind thought that that couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that the prophet had been romantically involved with Becky when they had last seen him, now could it?

Actually, the younger Winchester had been surprised at how normal and pleasant the talk with the woman had been, though. She had simply asked how he was doing and why he was calling her. Maybe she had moved on from her obsession with the books at last! So, Sam had made some polite small-talk and had asked her if she happened to have a copy of the two books that should have the archangel Gabriel in them. Yes, she did and she would be happy to send him copies of them.

And that was where the younger Winchester had made the big mistake of given her the address of his home in Sioux Falls, so she could put them in the mail as she had said she would. Yeah, right…

"Hello Becky," Sam greeted the woman with a slightly awkward smile. He really hadn't thought she would come in person, even though he should have known it. At least, he looked about as unsexy as it could get with the faded blue apron and the flour that somehow always ended up making stains on his jeans. Yes, looking unsexy as hell was a comforting thought when you had Becky the superfan standing in front of you.

"Hi Sam," the woman returned the greeting and held two tightly bound stacks of paper in front of her, nearly as if she was shielding herself with them, "I thought it'd be faster and so much more efficient to get those to you in person. Oh please, it was no hassle at all! I always wanted to see South Dakota, anyway."

The younger Winchester had no troubles believing that. He considered taking the books, quickly saying thank you and closing the door in her face for a moment, but he really couldn't bring himself to do that. It would be too damn impolite and this far she had only tried to do something nice for him, in that creepy way she had, that was.

"That's really very nice of you," Sam stated with a smile that was just a little forced, "I'm kind of busy right now, though."

He hadn't even finished his statement before Becky had basically moved past him already. Not that that was so much of a surprise. At least, she hadn't yet touched him. Thank God for small mercies!

The younger Winchester had thanked his luck a little too early, however. As soon as Becky had put the books down on one of the drawers that were closest to the front door, she turned around to hug him tightly.

"I was so glad to hear of you, I can't even tell you!" the woman sighed, releasing the object of her affections, but keeping one palm against his chest, "There was nothing about what happened after… I didn't know, if… I'm so happy you got out again!"

While Sam didn't appreciate the contact quite as much as Becky did – actually, he appreciate it much less – he softened a little at her very heartfelt words. Sure, it wasn't so much about him as it was about the character in the books that the woman thought she knew well enough to have a massive crush on, but it still was nice that she cared. Of course, she had to go and ruin it just a second later, however.

"So, all the books about the archangel Gabriel? I knew there was something between the two of you! It seemed like such a good match, especially since Dean is absolutely sleeping with that angel of his, too!" Becky babbled on excitedly. Wasn't it strange how she could have such a big crush on Sam, but she still tried to pair him with other characters in the books? And being paired with the archangel wasn't better than being paired with Dean for obvious reasons…

"Daddy, the pie!" Gabriel whined, walking out of the kitchen to remind his father that they had been in the middle of a project here. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Becky and how close she was to Sam, glaring at the woman. So, his father had not abandoned their baking session, she was keeping him from it!

"I know, buddy," the younger Winchester replied seriously, "We'll get it into the oven in a minute!"

He could tell that the little boy didn't like the situation, but he was also pretty sure that the archangel didn't yet know what to make of it, so it wasn't too late for damage control. Sam stepped away from Becky and let his five year old sit against his hip instead. Gabriel still was a very cuddly child and always was much calmer when his father was just hugging or holding him.

The way Becky stared at the scene in front of her was nearly comical enough for the younger Winchester to actually laugh out loud, but that would have been terribly rude.

"Let's show Becky how we finish the pie, okay?" Sam suggested and let his son stand on his own two feet again. How the hell was he going to explain all this to Becky, anyway? He'd have to say something and he really didn't want her to ask all the wrong questions while Gabriel was listening. At least, they had something to do which meant that everything else could take a backseat for the moment being.

"Jody showed us how to make this," the archangel told the woman in the rather snotty tone he had started to use with people he wasn't all that fond of. A few of the children at the playground had heard that one before, too.

"Who is Jody?" Becky asked. Being as overwhelmed by everything as she was kept her from actually sounding jealous, at least.

"Grandpa Bobby's girlfriend," the archangel explained and climbed back onto the stool he had been standing on before. Sam had cut the apples into pieces and Gabriel had had the most important job of putting them into the baking dish with the dough in it.

The younger Winchester shook his head slightly when he noticed how thoughtful Becky looked after hearing that new piece of information. She probably had had the older hunter paired up with someone else in her head, as well. Damn, it was strange to have the woman around.

"Who are you?" Gabriel asked after he had finished putting the apple pieces into place. Apparently, he had wanted to glare at Becky while he made that question just to let her know that she wasn't on his good side, yet.

"I am your daddy's biggest fan and admirer," the woman answered with a slightly uncomfortable smile, reaching for Sam's upper arm probably just to steady herself, but the archangel liked that even less than her presence in general.

"You make daddy feel bad!" Gabriel stated in a much more serious tone than he usually spoke in. He really didn't like the situation, though.

"Gabe, that's not true," the younger Winchester felt obliged to say. Feeling bad wasn't exactly the right description, anyway. He felt uncomfortable for sure and there was a big part of him that just didn't know what to make of the entire situation and how to get out of it again, though. Also, he was torn between being polite and being honest and he had the slightly bad feeling that Gabriel would accept nothing but honesty.

"Is too!" the archangel nearly yelled, stomping his feet on the stool, so his father quickly grabbed him and put him on the floor where he could at least stomp his feet safely, without being in danger of falling off something.

"We're not playing the 'is not – is too' game now," Sam replied in a definite tone. That delightful little game was one of the things Gabriel had picked up from being around children his own age as much as he was lately.

"Are too!" the archangel grinned. He knew that his father was not particularly fond of this sort of discussion most of the time, but it was damn funny and it also didn't really hurt the adult's feelings.

"Brat," Sam chuckled, tickling his son until the little boy was giggling so hard that he was nearly rolling on the floor. That was how this particular game ended most of the time, too.

"Am not!" Gabriel yelled and tried to get away from the tickling which was the sign for the adult to stop. They both knew when they were going too far which kept most things from escalating, even if the little boy was the one who started them or didn't want to stop immediately.

"No, you're not," the younger Winchester agreed, ruffling the archangel's hair, "You're my perfect little angel."

The grin on the little boy's face was so bright that it might have blinded someone and it didn't fail to make Becky 'awww'. Sam didn't know why Gabriel disliked her as much as he did, but he supposed that everyone – even the archangel – was allowed to just reject someone for reasons they didn't have to explain to anyone. It wasn't like they were going to see Becky that often. The younger Winchester really hoped that they wouldn't, anyway.

Gabriel pulled on the shirt of his father's sleeve und whispered a question into his ear. Sam sighed, but nodded. He wasn't going to start lying to his son over something like this, even if he had the rather bad feeling that he had just more or less given the okay to something he actually didn't think was okay.

"Do you want pie?" the archangel asked a slightly flabbergasted Becky.

"That would be very nice," the woman answered, giving the boy a bright smile. This was going better than she had thought after he had given her the cold shoulder as much as he had before.

This time Gabriel's grin was very mischievous and before Becky knew it she held a perfect and still slightly warm apple pie in her hands, but she didn't even get the time to make a surprised noise before she disappeared into thin air.

"Where did you send her?" Sam sighed, giving his son a mildly reprimanding look.

"Home," the archangel shrugged, climbing back onto his stool, "Now we can bake!"

The younger Winchester knew that he shouldn't reward that sort of behavior, but he just felt like doing it. Besides, Gabriel had asked if Becky was one of the people who knew – which meant who knew about the supernatural and were allowed to know about angels – before he had done something.

* * *

_Do I have to mention that I had a lot to explain to Becky when she called slightly hysterical just minutes later?_


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Tendencia, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, Bluegonfalon, L. Greene, Mello18, SARA1988, Avalonemyst, Pizzapig, define crazy, CherylB1964 and kb18142 for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

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**18**

_September 18st, 2015_

_Toshio's sixth birthday was a couple of days ago. The family is throwing a big party with all the people from his kindergarten group today and the two of us are invited as well._

* * *

Toshio's father thought it was completely unfair that his son had had to wait to start with kindergarten for an entire year just because he had been born about two weeks after the cut off date. Toshio's mother on the other hand was quite glad that her little one had had one more year to get accustomed to living in the US and speaking English most of the time before he had to deal with a group of children where it was highly unlikely that anybody would speak Japanese. Sam was with her on this and also – being a May born himself – he thought that it might have some advantages to always be one of the older ones in his grade.

The younger Winchester had half-expected Gabriel to suddenly decide he wanted to go to kindergarten too now that his best friend was attending, but the archangel had told him calmly that he could still see Toshio in the afternoons and that he would much rather stay home with daddy. That suited Sam just fine, too. He had decided a while ago that it would probably be best to teach Gabriel at home for the first few years, at least. He already knew so many things that the other kids would still have to learn and he got bored and frustrated too easily to guarantee that he wouldn't wreak havoc or simply zap himself back home as soon as something rubbed him the wrong way. The younger Winchester wasn't particularly keen on ever explaining his 'amazing disappearing kid' to a teacher.

They would have to see how the archangel would react to Toshio going to first grade the next year, but Sam doubted that his son would be all too keen on going to school then, too. However, the younger Winchester wouldn't keep Gabriel away from school, if he really wanted to go, but it would be tricky and somewhat risky for both of them and the archangel would have a lot of rules to follow. That alone should keep him from really wanting to go, though.

Anyway, it looked like Gabriel's tries to get Toshio to come out of his shell and be more self-confident had worked pretty well. There were a lot of kids running around the garden and the little boy was among them, playing with them and having fun. He immediately ran over to Sam and Gabriel when he spotted his best friend, though.

"Gabe, Gabe, Gabe, Gabe!" the little Japanese boy yelled excitedly and barely managed to stop himself from crashing into the little archangel, "Meet my friends!"

As fast as Toshio had come he grabbed Gabriel and both boys were gone again. Sam chuckled and shook his head. It was nice that they were both so enthusiastic. The younger Winchester only hoped that his son wouldn't get jealous of the other people he'd have to share his best friend's attention with. Then again, it worked well enough when they were at various playgrounds, seeing the few people who were still going to the meetings of their former playgroup even after their kids had reached the kindergarten age.

Sam didn't even get the time to wonder what he was supposed to do now before Mari already came his way and grabbed his hand like her son had done with Gabriel a few moments ago.

"You will stick around, right?" she asked, even though she knew the answer already. It wasn't like Sam ever just dropped Gabriel off somewhere and left again. "You should meet some of the other parents!"

Just like that, the younger Winchester found himself in the living room of the family where everyone had a great view of the garden and their playing children, but they were far enough from them to discuss all sorts of adult topics. He recognized two of the mothers from their playgroup and one more from the playground, but other than that everyone was a stranger to Sam. That was about to change though, obviously.

Like most of the other times nearly all the parents around were mothers. Dean had started to tease his younger brother about being around all these women and still not getting any some time ago. He didn't do it that often and wasn't completely serious about it, but the older Winchester made that sort of comment every other time they met. Sam wasn't particularly interested into dating, though. Not that he could tell Dean that without being teased about it even more.

Apparently, he hadn't made that clear enough to Mari either, though.

"Sam, meet Abby," Toshio's mother introduced him to a rather tall woman with dark eyes and long brown hair, "Her son Nathan goes to school with Toshio."

The younger Winchester nodded dutifully and shook the woman's hand. He recognized a try to set him up with someone when he saw one, but at least Abby looked about as taken aback as he was sure he did.

"Sam is Gabriel's father," Mari went on in an upbeat tone, ignoring that she was making two people uncomfortable for the sake of possibly getting them to talk, "You two have a lot in common!"

And just like that Toshio's mother waved to someone on the other side of the room and left the two of them standing there, looking at each other awkwardly. Sam did his best to give a half-smile, but it didn't look all that great with how embarrassed he was. He wasn't even all too sure if the woman even noticed, because she was clearly looking for a way to get out of the situation, too.

"You know… I mean… we could just… pretend this never happened," the younger Winchester suggested carefully. He really didn't want to appear like he absolutely wanted to get rid of her, but at the same time he sort of did. He couldn't help wondering what Gabriel's reaction to this entire scene would have been, if he had been there that very moment. He had zapped Becky across the country just for making Sam feel uncomfortable, after all.

"Yes, please," Abby replied, blushing furiously, "It's not… I mean… I'm just not…"

They both were relieved that they were on the same page with each other about this topic. It would have been even worse if either one of them had actually been on the search for a new partner.

"Me neither," the younger Winchester agreed. He was sure that she had meant to say that she simply wasn't looking for someone right now and he could agree with that wholeheartedly. He had never made the conscious decision to stay alone and he wouldn't say that there was absolutely no chance that he would just find someone he might want to date, but he wasn't searching. Sometimes he thought he wanted what Bobby and Jody had, though. Being a couple and sharing a life looked so easy when you were looking at those two.

"Toshio talks about Gabriel a lot. He's got to be a very special boy," Abby said with a small smile a few moments later, "He's not going to kindergarten though, right?"

Sam nodded and returned the smile. They were back at the sort of easy small-talk territory where they would just trade stories about their children until either one of the little ones came running and demanded their parent's attention. The younger Winchester had become close to perfect in conversations like that over the years.

"Yeah, Gabe's not ready for that, yet," Sam tried to explain, frowning slightly because he was probably making his little boy sound bad like this, "We both aren't, I guess."

The younger Winchester had in fact wondered if Gabriel wasn't just picking up on his father's secret wish to keep him at home with him. That would be reason enough for the little boy to stay with him, after all. Then again, the archangel was doing a lot of things that he clearly wanted to do, even if Sam thought they weren't that great, so he wasn't worrying too much about that.

"Mom," a little boy who couldn't be much taller or older than Gabriel addressed the woman, "We built a sandcastle. You've got to see it!"

Nearly the same moment Abby was gone, Mari reappeared. She was looking at Sam like she expected him to give her an evaluation of the last few minutes. She probably really did, too.

"When you said we had a lot in common, I guess you meant that we're both single parents," the younger Winchester stated and didn't even have to wait for the woman to confirm his guess, "Mari, I'm just really not looking for someone."

"You don't have to look. I'm looking for you," Toshio's mother pointed out with a small smile, putting a hand on the much taller man's shoulder, "You can't be alone all the time, Sam. It's not good for you!"

The younger Winchester supposed that this was neither the place nor the time to argue with her and he was pretty sure that this was one argument he couldn't win, anyway. They just had a different outlook on life and that was that.

* * *

In the garden, Gabriel had the slight feeling that he should go back to his father, but he was distracted when Toshio showed him the bouncy castle his parents had put up for his birthday party. An adult was there to watch that the kids weren't injuring themselves, but bouncy castles were awesome with or without supervision!

"Awesome!" the archangel exclaimed, kicking his shoes off as fast as he could.

This time it was Gabriel who dragged his best friend around until they were both in the bouncy castle. The two little boys had made their way through the garden and the littlest Winchester had met a few of his best friend's friends from kindergarten. Most of them hadn't seemed all too interesting to Gabriel, though. There were a few more children he hadn't met yet in the bouncy castle, however. One in particular caught his eye and he pointed her out to Toshio after a few moments of just jumping around.

"That's Sophie," the little boy explained with a shrug, "She's weird."

To the archangel she looked interesting, however. The pigtails that went over her shoulders and went high in the air when she jumped up and down looked interesting and the way she smiled like her grin wanted to split her face in half looked interesting and there was something more that all the other people Gabriel found interesting had, too. He simply couldn't put the last point into words, though.

So, after a few minutes of just jumping around the archangel found that he had ended up much closer to the little girl than he had started out. Toshio was still by his side as well, of course.

"Hi, I'm Gabriel," the little boy introduced himself with a big grin, trying to jump a little higher to impress his best friend and the girl alike. This started a little competition between the three of them until they all eventually fell down and sat there slightly out of breath and giggling madly.

"I'm S-S-Sophie," the blonde girl managed to stutter once she wasn't laughing so hard anymore.

The three of them struggled to get out of the bouncy castle which wasn't quite as easy as it sounded. Gabriel was looking back to see if Sophie was following them ever so often and Toshio couldn't help staring at his best friend, because he didn't quite understand why he was giving so much attention to the girl. Girls might not be the most disgusting thing ever, but they came pretty close. Maybe Gabriel was just fascinated by disgusting things, though.

"Do you want to come play?" the archangel asked Sophie after they had put their shoes back on.

Toshio looked a little taken aback for a moment, but he guessed that he could give her a chance, if his best friend wanted to have her around. As long as she didn't take Gabe away from him, that was. He might have made other friends in kindergarten, but the youngest Winchester was his best friend and always would be!

The three of them ended up going to the part of the garden where no other kids were. The others didn't know how awesome the bushes were for playing, though. They also didn't know that Toshio and Gabriel had hidden a few action figures and comic books in a plastic bag under them.

This was a test for the little girl, too. The first moment she said that this was boring, or stupid, or something else that meant she didn't like it she'd have to go! Toshio at least was determined that that was what would happen. When Sophie's eyes lit up and she proclaimed that this was the 'coolest thing ever!' the little Japanese boy had to admit that Gabriel had probably been right about her. Like he was right about most things, really.

It was quite some time later that Mari called for her son to come back so they could open the presents and have some cake. The three children emerged from the bushes with wide grins and only moderately dirty moments later.

Sam smiled when he saw that Toshio was holding Gabriel's left hand while a little girl was holding his right and all three of them were running toward the house like they had been promised a million dollars for being there quickly. Then again, for little children the promise of cake had to be about as good and the birthday boy surely wanted to know what presents he had gotten, too.

"Daddy, that's Sophie," Gabriel told his father once they were standing in front of him, "She's cool."

The younger Winchester nodded and shook the little girl's hand when she offered it. He'd probably have to find out who her parents were and how she and Gabriel could meet again. The archangel wasn't making many friends, but when he did he wanted to see them again very frequently and Sam was supporting that as best he could.

"And you're c-cute," Sophie declared and before the littlest Winchester could say or do anything she leaned over and kissed his cheek noisily.

"Yuck!" Toshio made gagging noises.

Gabriel looked quite pleased, however.

* * *

_Uncle Dean says you're clearly his nephew and he's very proud of you, champ._


	19. Chapter 19

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Mello18, FireChildSlytherin5, midnight0211, Maddy Love Castiel, Avalonemyst, Tendencia, Pizzapig, Hesta101, Amethyst Violet Serenity, Keefer, Miahbug, L. Greene, CherylB1964, kb18142, CassXDeano and one guest for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

I love you guys! You make my days so much better with your reviews! :-)

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**19**

_December 18th, 2015_

_It's that time of the year when uncle Dean thinks I should just go out and have a little fun again. Little does he know that I'll just go and buy Christmas presents and run a few errands while he babysits you. That your two best friends would decide to pay you a visit while I was gone came as a surprise to all of us, though._

* * *

Dean had made sure that Gabriel had access to all the cool children's cartoons like Thundercats, Transformers and Turtles ever since the boy had been too young to really appreciate them or be interested in them. However, that kind of early education was paying off finally, because the little archangel had developed a taste in superheroes and cars that his uncle fully approved of.

Also, the five year old was probably one of very few boys his age who had seen the first six fast and the furious movies. Dean had finally gotten his hands on a copy of the seventh one and that was another reason why he had bothered his brother until Sam had agreed to go out and leave Gabriel in his uncle's capable hands. It was doubtful that his younger brother would have allowed them to watch the movie and even if he had, he would have sat next to them, explaining everything that was happening in what he thought was a child friendly manner when that would only spoil the fun they were having. The only words that were absolutely needed during a movie like that were the occasional 'awesome', 'cool' or – in the case of the little boy – 'yay'. Gabriel understood those rules by far better than his father did.

"Okay champ, I got the popcorn and you got the movie," the older Winchester stated as he came back from the kitchen with a bowl of popcorn that should last them maybe throughout half the movie, if they were lucky. Sam didn't have any bigger bowls, however.

"And we won't tell daddy," Gabriel finished for his uncle and hopped onto the couch. He could hardly remember what the other movies of the series had been about, but that wasn't really important, anyway. He remembered that uncle Dean loved them and that they had a lot of fun watching them. Those were the things that really counted! Besides, they were doing something that was probably forbidden which made it great in and of itself.

Dean was just about to start the movie when the doorbell was ringing. He groaned and went to see who was disturbing their uncle-nephew bonding time and was greeted by two children yelling, "We want to play with Gabriel!"

Dean knew that the little boy was Toshio. He had seen him a couple of times before and he sometimes showed up in the pictures his younger brother sent him ever so often. The little girl had to be Sophie then and since the adult accompanying the two kindergarteners clearly wasn't Japanese he had to be with her. The older Winchester didn't even get the chance to say anything before his nephew came running to the door and squeezed the other two kids and nearly dragged them inside.

"They can stay! Can they uncle Dean? Please!" the archangel asked, giving his uncle the best puppy dog eyes he could manage. Hardly any adult ever managed to say 'no' to him when he looked at them like that and he was using it against them shamelessly at times.

"Uh..." Dean commented ineloquently, looking at the three children who were all staring at him expectantly and then back at the other adult, "Yeah, I guess. I'm Sam's brother, by the way."

The other man seemed to consider the new information for a moment before he shook the older Winchester's hand and nodded, "Nice to meet you. I'm Tom, Sophie's dad. You sure you want to babysit all three of them?"

Was Dean sure? Was he sure? Well no, he wasn't, but the kids were sure that they wanted to spend the afternoon together and how hard could it be to entertain them? Hey, he wouldn't even have to entertain them too much, because they had each other to play with. It was just a pity that they wouldn't see that movie, after all. He could let Gabe see a PG-13 movie at the age of five, but he wouldn't take it upon himself if the other two went home and told their parents about Gabriel's uncle who showed them movies they were much too young for.

"Oh please, how hard can it be to look after those three?" Dean shrugged. He was handling werewolves, wendigos and vampires every other week, after all! Not that the other man would know that.

"Yeah, whatever you say," Tom nodded and tried not to grin too much, "Our phone numbers are on the pin board next to the phone. You know, just in case."

The older Winchester had been quite determined to show that babysitting the three kiddies posed absolutely no problem to him even before Sophie's father had more or less challenged him to prove it.

* * *

"Mr. W-w-w… Mr. W-w," Sophie stuttered, standing in the kitchen where Dean was just preparing hot chocolate for when the kids would decide to stop playing in the snow and come back inside which had to happen any moment now. Apparently, she hadn't remembered to take off her shoes or get rid of the excess snow on them before she had come running into the house, either.

"Call me Dean," the older Winchester offered since the little girl seemed to have troubles with their family name which he couldn't really blame her for. Winchester was a mouthful even without a prominent stutter, after all.

"D-Dean, G-G-Gabriel made a s-s-snow-a-angel," Sophie finally managed and dragged the adult toward the backdoor with her, so he would take a look. She barely gave him the time to put on the shoes Sam kept by the door in case he wanted to go into the garden quickly. They were too big for him, but still better than nothing.

"It's the snow angel Gabriel!" the little archangel proclaimed happily, pointing at his work proudly. Toshio was busy making his own snow angel next to the one his friend had made earlier and seeing that made Sophie run back to them and dive into the snow herself to make one, as well.

After all three of them were satisfied with their work they turned their eyes back to the adult nearly at the same time. A feeling of impending doom crashed over Dean even before the three children ran up to him to drag him into the garden so he could make a snow angel, too. They didn't see a problem in the fact that he wasn't wearing a coat, obviously.

"Come on, guys. I'm no angel," the older Winchester tried, but all he managed with that was to make all three of them pout at him, "And you've got to feel cold by now. We should go back inside."

In the end, Dean was forced to add his own adult snow angel to the collection before they agreed to go back inside without a fight. It was too bad that they weren't old enough for a snowball fight. Not for the kind where the older Winchester would be allowed to take part and take shots at them, anyway.

At least, it was easy enough to get the three kids to sit around the kitchen table with hot chocolate and a plate full of cookies. They weren't exactly quiet, but they were busy with munching on the sweets.

"Mr. Winchester always gives us apples or oranges," Toshio pointed out. It didn't exactly sound like a complaint, though. Hell, the little boy better not be complaining! He was eating at least as many cookies as Gabriel was, after all!

"Let's just say I'm the fun Mr. Winchester," Dean replied with a small grin before he went back to carefully pulling more of the snow that was clinging to Sophie's long hair from it. The two little boys had only required a good shaking before they had been basically snow free and ready to go inside to play on there. The bottom of the little girl's hair that had stuck out of her cap was however not that easy to be freed from all the snow, so Dean had been forced to get one of Sammy's hairbrushes and a towel to take care of that.

"You know, we wouldn't have this problem, if you had braided your hair," the older Winchester pointed out, as he finally pulled the last of the snow out of Sophie's hair and rubbed it dry with the towel.

"You can braid it for her now!" Gabriel suggested, grabbing another cookie.

Dean had just been about to give a very fitting answer to that suggestion when the girl turned around and looked at him pleadingly. Oh great, of course she had to like the idea! And so Dean Winchester, hunter of all things that go bump in the night, had to sit there and braid a little girl's hair. Sam would probably laugh his stupid, overgrown ass off because of that.

* * *

"Cas, get your feathery ass over here before the three little dipshits kill themselves," Dean prayed silently, so the kids wouldn't hear, "Or before I kill them."

Okay, it wasn't nice to call the children that, but after the things the older Winchester had gone through in the past hour and a half he thought he deserved to be a little cranky. It wasn't like he loved his nephew any less because of it, he'd just call him a little bastard or whatever else choice words would come to his mind in the near future.

The angel had explained to the human a long time ago that the form of the prayer wasn't what mattered, it was the intention. So, basically the older Winchester could say whatever he wanted, if he truly intended for Castiel to hear it, he would. The dark-haired angel sometimes regretted ever teaching Dean about the technicalities of prayers, though. Sure, he had never been too careful about the way he worded things and it was a part of who Dean was and as such nothing Castiel would ever want to change, but there had been a time when he had been slightly less vulgar about it.

"Hello Dean," Castiel greeted the hunter. He needed a second to take the scene he had just zapped himself into in, but when he was done the corners of his mouth twitched traitorously.

"Ha, ha, Cas. Just set me free!" Dean demanded, but it wasn't that easy to appear even the slightest bit threatening when you were bound to a chair with blue rope Gabriel had produced from God knew where. Whoever had shown Toshio how to tie knots that were impossible to get out of without the help of a knife deserved a good beating, too.

"I trust Gabriel did this," Castiel commented as he casually waved his hand and undid the binds that way. He supposed that Dean hadn't tried to free himself harder, because he had not wanted to break one of his brother's chairs.

"Please, one little kid wouldn't get the jump on me like this!" the older Winchester snorted, "His two friends were helping him!"

At least, Dean hadn't heard any loud crashing noises in the past fifteen minutes he had spent bound to the chair in the kitchen. That meant the kids probably weren't doing anything Sam would kill him for. The older Winchester tried to believe in that, anyway.

"Okay, you stay here and I collect the little bastards," the older Winchester told the dark-haired angel, "Make sure they don't run off again!"

The first one Dean got his hands on was Sophie, because the little girl couldn't stop giggling in her hiding place once she noticed that he was approaching her. The adult sat her down on the couch in the living room and sternly told her to stay while he went to find the others.

Gabriel was the second one to sit on the couch while Castiel watched them like a hawk. They both just grinned at the adult, but stayed put as they had been told to.

"And here comes number three," Dean announced and put Toshio on the couch between the other two. The little ninja was good, he had to give him that.

"That's Cas," the older Winchester told the three children, even though two of them already knew that, anyway, "He'll play with you while I go and find my dignity."

What Dean was planning was actually more along the lines of drinking a cool beer and just having a minute for himself to get over the fact that three kindergarteners could be this strenuous. Damn, maybe Sammy didn't have it quite as easy as his older brother usually assumed.

"What are we playing, Cas?" Gabriel asked about thirty seconds later when the adult angel didn't do anything other than standing there, staring at the children.

Castiel hadn't looked this panicky in quite some time. He had no idea how to entertain two humans and his archangel brother. Usually, he joined games that were already going on and even then he wasn't particularly good with it. Dean sometimes told him that he was highly entertaining, but he was quite certain that the children would not be amused by the same things.

"T-t-twister!" Sophie suggested and Toshio hopped off the couch to go and get the game as soon as the word had left her mouth. The little Japanese boy knew exactly where the games were in the Winchesters' house and he had liked the suggestion, so he thought he might as well move this along. Gabriel loved the game, anyway.

When Dean returned a couple of minutes later – okay, leaving Cas alone with the little rascals had been a dick move – the angel's trenchcoat and suit jacket were hanging over the back of the couch and three children were laughing and giggling nearly constantly. The older Winchester had to say that he was impressed. Castiel really was damn flexible. Apparently, it was easy enough to grasp the rules of 'Twister', too.

"Uncle Dean, do you want to play, too?" Gabriel asked as soon as he realized that the older Winchester had returned to the living room.

"I totally would, buddy. But five people playing would be too many," Dean shrugged, naively thinking that that would be the end of the discussion.

When Sam returned home little later he could hear multiple children laughing before he had even entered the house. Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that met him when he actually walked into the living room, though.

"Right hand, yellow," Gabriel instructed and Dean groaned. Now that he was playing, the older Winchester's pride forbade him to lose on purpose, even if he had to practically bend over Cas to get his right hand on one of the yellow dots!

As these things could go, the game ended when Sam laughed and Dean lost his concentration and took Castiel down with him.

* * *

_Your uncle dubbed the three of you the 'trio infernale' and promised me a world of pain, if I ever told Bobby or Balthazar about what I have seen. Luckily, he didn't say anything about showing them the picture I snapped._


	20. Chapter 20

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, midnight0211, Tendencia, kb18142, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, Avalonemyst, miahbug, keacdragon, CherylB1964, pizzapig, define crazy, FireChildSlytherin5, L. Greene, CassXDeano and Mello18 for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

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**20**

_May 3rd, 2016_

_Basic reading, writing and simple math are so easy to you that I sometimes wonder, if I'm teaching you at all or if you're only humoring me by letting me feel like I am. Castiel theorized that a part of you already knows all these things, so what I'm doing is uncovering knowledge that's already there, anyway. I guess it makes sense. You are a very near omniscient being by default, after all…_

* * *

Dean had dubbed Toshio the little geek months ago when it had first become apparent that the little boy was very eager to absorb every little piece of knowledge the teacher shared with the class. He also carried one or more of his schoolbooks around most of the time these days and he always liked to explain to Gabriel exactly what they had learned that day. The little archangel was always fascinated by everything his best friend told him and surprisingly never told Toshio that he knew most of these things, already. Sam was very pleased about that, too.

Sophie wasn't quite that keen on studying and going to kindergarten in general and she'd often tell the boys to, "S-s-stop it and play!" Dean thought that she had the right idea about how things were supposed to work. When the boys ignored her and went on looking at exercises Toshio had either done at school or as homework the little girl often came to find Sam and ask him to play with her instead. It wasn't that hard to tell that she wasn't very content with her two friends ignoring her in favor of things she had little interest in. Most of the time these mini-conflicts between the three kids were solved as soon as Gabriel came to look where Sophie had gone and realized that the girl was feeling rejected, hugged her tightly or kissed her cheek and took her by the hand to go and choose a game for them to play.

The way the little archangel had been very interested in the things his friends were learning at kindergarten had caused his father to get copies of the school books for him to look at, too. Once it had become clear that Gabriel was absorbing new information like a sponge and genuinely enjoyed learning to read simple sentences and write his first few words, Sam had done some research and had created a basic schedule for them to go through the lessons in the books. He would have done so sooner rather than later anyway, but the keenness his son had shown had made the 'sooner' even sooner than he had thought.

Sometimes Sam wasn't sure if he wasn't going too slow for the little boy, but he thought he could trust that Gabriel would show him very clearly, if he felt like he was being challenged too little. He had played with the idea of asking Gabe to read a sentence out of a random philosophical book or a Shakespearian play just to see how he would do with those, but it didn't feel right to him to do this sort of experiment with his six year old.

"It's a cat," the little boy grinned, pushing the book with the exercise he had been working on to his father, "Thirty numbers and it's a cat!"

The younger Winchester smiled and ruffled his son's hair, handing the book back to him after he had looked at the picture. Instead of connecting dots the boy had had to connect the right numbers and the figure the lines had formed was indeed a cat. It was no big surprise that the archangel could count to rather high numbers already, though. Sam had more or less jokingly suggested that they could try to count sheep one evening. Gabriel had been asleep before he had reached the end of the numbers he could name.

Before the younger Winchester could even ask what he wanted to do next, the little boy had already started to write the word 'cat' underneath the figure. Cookie huffed loudly from his place on the carpet next to the table they were sitting at, as if he had understood that they were talking about felines.

"Bal!" Gabriel suddenly yelled happily and jumped off the chair so quickly that it fell over with a loud bang that made the dog howl for a moment. The little boy was hugging his angelic brother as tightly as he could before he had even said anything to announce his presence.

"Hello to you too, bro," the blonde angel smiled and hugged the archangel back.

Sam picked the chair up and scratched Cookie behind the ears until the husky had settled down again. He then grabbed one of Gabriel's exercise books and wiggled it around until he caught his son's attention and he ran over to retrieve it.

Balthazar had to follow his little brother to the living room and get settled on the couch before the boy basically climbed into his lap and opened the thin yellow book and showed him the first page titled 'This is me'.

"I drew that," Gabriel commented, pointing at the little boy he had drawn. Secretly, Sam thought it was good to see that drawing was something the little archangel wasn't perfect at. He really had about the same grasp on anatomy and perspective than any other six year old had.

There were also pages for 'my mother' – which had been left empty – 'my father', 'my best friend' and 'my family'. The last one was the one Gabriel stopped at and took a deep breath before he began to explain how he had drawn them all together and how Cas was standing next to Dean, because he wouldn't stand anywhere else. Jody and Bobby were standing next to each other too and Cookie was also in that picture, because he was family, as well.

Balthazar nodded dutifully and tried his best not to comment that he wouldn't be caught dead in an orange suit. It wasn't easy to contain the snarking that desperately wanted to escape, but for his little brother he could manage… barely.

"You captured Dean's character very well," the blonde angel stated instead, smirking at the younger Winchester, "He's about as three dimensional as he is in real life."

Sam tried to be a loyal brother and not find the insult against his older brother in the least funny, but he couldn't quite keep the corners of his mouth from twitching. The blonde angel took a lot of getting used to, but the younger Winchester had to admit that he couldn't imagine their little family without the snarky bastard anymore, either.

"Who wants a present?" Balthazar suddenly asked in an upbeat tone that was nearly guaranteed to get Gabriel excited no matter what he was talking about. That it actually was about a gift made everything even better, of course.

"Me! Me! Me!" the little archangel yelled, nearly shaking his brother in his eagerness. He grabbed the rectangular present that was wrapped in blue and silver paper and ran off to sit next to Cookie on the carpet, as if he really thought that someone might take the present away again, if he didn't secure his rights to it.

Sam frowned slightly, looking at Balthazar questioningly. Sure, the angel brought gifts for his brother most of the times when he showed up, but it seemed like this one was different from the others. Presents that weren't given for birthdays or other holidays weren't wrapped up as nicely as that one usually.

"You were looking for Gabriel's story," Balthazar shrugged casually," I got a couple of our brothers and sisters to help me put a child friendly version of it together. Ecanus writes great texts, Jophiel is a good illustrator and Lailah used to be a friend of Gabriel while he was still in heaven and had a few things to say about him. I made sure the more raunchy parts didn't make it to the final version."

The younger Winchester gaped at the angel for a few moments before he pulled himself together and nodded, smiling. Balthazar really was always good for a surprise and about half of the time they were even nice. When the surprises were for Gabriel they were nice all the time, actually.

"Look, daddy! The little angel looks like me," the archangel stated with a grin, holding his new book under his father's nose, so he could take a good look at it.

Sam had to admit that Jophiel really was a damn good illustrator. The picture of the little angel who was meant to be the Gabriel stand-in for the story looked very good. Soft contours and soft colors made a very sweet picture of a young angel with honey colored hair and nearly golden eyes sitting among fluffy clouds.

The archangel was obviously very fascinated by his new book, too. He was looking through the pages with so much concentration that it was highly doubtful that he still noticed anything going on around him.

"It's great. Thank you, Balthazar," Sam said honestly, smiling at the blonde angel.

"Hold your horses, big guy. You haven't looked through it, yet. Aren't you even a little worried that the content of the book might be somewhat inappropriate?" Balthazar asked teasingly with a smirk. After all, it would be a lot like him to just put a little borderline nasty surprise in there just to mess with the younger Winchester.

"I trust you," Sam replied immediately with a light shrug. He hadn't thought the statement through before he had made it, but he found it was absolutely true. There still weren't many people he completely trusted with his son, but Balthazar was one of them.

The adult angel smiled softly, for once not even feeling the need to make a snarky comment.

* * *

It was one of the days when Gabriel didn't want to go and sleep in his own room, so he and Cookie crawled in with Sam while the younger Winchester was forced to retire a little earlier than he usually did these days. He didn't see a reason to discourage that sort of behavior, though. It wasn't like his son insisted on spending every night in his bed and the boy was only six years old. If he felt that some nights he wanted to have his father close then that was okay with him.

"Cookie wants to hear the story again," Gabriel stated with all the seriousness a six year old could muster up and handed the picture book he had received earlier to his father. The dog huffed as if he actually wanted to disprove that claim, but his eyes were on Sam and the book, anyway.

Sometimes, the younger Winchester wondered if the archangel hadn't somehow given their dog the ability to understand what he was saying. Maybe the idea was laughable, but Cookie just had this way to react to things in just the rights moments, or generally appear very attentive that made Sam wonder.

"Alright, but this is the last time for today," the younger Winchester agreed and leaned back into the pillows, holding the book open, "Are you comfortable?"

Gabriel nodded seriously and snuggled up to his father's side, resting his head against his shoulder so he could look at the pictures. They had gone through the book once while Balthazar had still been there and then again after he had left and then once more before dinner, so one more time for that day sounded reasonable. The little boy felt tired already, anyway.

"On the day God created his fourth archangel it seemed like the sun was smiling at all of creation and the little angel smiled right back," Sam read out loud and couldn't help smiling himself, especially because the picture that went with the text showed a little baby that looked all too much like Gabriel had when he had first crashed into their lives.

The story went on to talk about how the little angel loved all of his brothers and sisters – even the very awkward one whose picture looked an awful lot like a younger version of Castiel – and how they all loved him back. There were a few pages dedicated to pranks Gabriel had pulled on some of them before the story took a turn for the darker when the other archangels started to argue and God decided that his children had to sort things out between them without his interference.

"'I taught you everything that is right and good,' the oldest archangel said, 'you have to take my side!'" Sam read on, noticing how his son flinched slightly, looking at the picture of the arguing angels with wide eyes, "'We always had the most fun,' the second archangel said, 'surely you are on my side.' And they both looked at him and asked, 'Don't you love me?'."

The younger Winchester understood that this was highly simplifying the things that must have gone on in heaven at the time just before Lucifer had fallen, but he still felt like this was giving him some sort of insight he hadn't had before.

Little surprisingly, the little angel in the story couldn't choose and decided to go and leave his brothers instead of taking one of their sides. This was the point where Gabriel always nearly forgot to breathe from being so engrossed in the story that everything took a backseat next to listening to what happened next.

The little angel went on to live among humans and took up playing pranks on those who mistreated their fellow people and he had a lot of fun and new friends, but no family.

"God saw that the little angel was sad about this and decided to give him a new family," Sam read on in a soft tone, stroking over his son's back with his free hand absentmindedly, "This is how the little angel got his human father. 'I will always love and protect you,' he said, 'and you will never have to feel alone again.'"

The younger Winchester closed the book softly and put it onto the bedside table, careful not to jostle Gabriel in the process. The little boy apparently had fallen asleep during the very last part of the story. Cookie was snoring softly as well and Sam had no doubt that he would be lulled to sleep sooner rather than later, too.

"Is that little angel me?" Gabriel suddenly whispered, cuddling up to the younger Winchester until there was no space whatsoever left between them anymore. The archangel must have been thinking about this all afternoon and that also explained his wish to stay with his father over night.

"Yes," Sam answered, wrapping his arm around his son a little tighter, "And I will always love and protect you and you will never have to feel alone again."

* * *

_Never forget that, Gabe._


	21. Chapter 21

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Mello18, Tendencia, CassXDeano, define crazy, Keefer, starshaker, keacdragon, Maddy Love Castiel, Avalonemyst, CherylB1964, Pizzapig, SARA1988, kb18142, L. Greene, Nyx Ro, FireChildSlytherin5 and Bluegonfalon for last chapter's reviews.

You guys make me smile like crazy with your reviews :-D

I have a question for you: Should Sam stay a single parent, or would you like to see him go and date? (I am a little undecided on this point myself, so I'd like to hear your thoughts)**  
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**21**

_February 13th, 2017_

_Balthazar and Castiel promised to take you to a place where you can practice using some of your powers safely today. I admit that I insisted to come along to watch mostly out of curiosity…_

* * *

As it turned out the place where Gabriel could just unleash his powers without the risk of being watched or accidentally hurting someone didn't actually exist. Balthazar hadn't given much of an explanation, but it seemed that they were still technically in their living room, even though to Sam it looked like a rather big clearing in a forest someplace where it wasn't winter but early summer.

The two adult angels had had to work together to create this little pocket universe, something either one of them hadn't done before and neither one of them had enough power to do alone. Castiel felt the result was satisfactory while Balthazar had proclaimed that the two of them were better than Jesus. The dark-haired angel didn't think that it was a very fitting comparison, but he didn't want to discuss the matter and kept quiet about it.

The younger Winchester was leaning against a tree that probably was no tree at all, even though it sure felt like one – and Sam would stop thinking about this before he gave himself a migraine – just watching the three angels interact. He actually was rather curious to see what exactly Cas and Balthazar thought they should teach their nearly seven year old brother.

The blonde angel crouched down and whispered something to the little boy that made him grin like a maniac for a few moments before he nodded determinedly. Sam didn't even get the time to wonder what this might be about before Balthazar grabbed Gabriel unceremoniously and tossed him high in the air. All of the younger Winchester's instincts screamed for him to try and catch his son, even though he knew that he would never get close enough in time. Rationally, he knew that his two brothers would never allow for the archangel to get hurt. He was man enough to admit that he was too panicky to think completely rational that very moment, though.

Gabriel's wings appeared before his father had even made the first two steps, however. Yes, this was the exact moments when the younger Winchester felt the dumbest he had felt in quite a long time. He forced a smile and waved toward the archangel, leaning back against the tree with the resolution to keep his cool from then on. The point of this entire exercise was to allow the three angels to show some of their real potential they had to keep hidden in the everyday life among humans, so he really shouldn't go into panic-mode as soon as something that looked out of the ordinary and too damn dangerous to him happened.

"Well done, bro!" Balthazar called up to his little brother in a proud tone, "Cassy had to be pushed off a lot of clouds before he learned to fly!"

Castiel frowned deeply, but didn't say anything, simply taking his trenchcoat off and folding it carefully before he put it to the ground. The big black wings that appeared on his back were just a representation of the real deal just like Gabriel's white ones were, but it was a form he felt connected to, all the same.

"Glad to see your wings are that well groomed," Balthazar commented with a smirk, "Good job, brother. Or is somebody else doing it for you?"

"Don't ask stupid questions," Castiel replied matter-of-factly and took off without another word. Gabriel was getting a little impatient already and needed to be entertained, anyway. It looked like the little archangel had already figured out the basics of flying, so it was about time things got more interesting and getting to play catch with one of his brothers was one way to achieve that.

"In all the years I've been around angels I've never seen any of you guys just fly like that," Sam stated, standing next to Balthazar as they watched how Castiel tried to get his hands on the little archangel who was having a blast trying to avoid his brother and flying over and under him in quick maneuvers that seemed to come to him naturally.

"It's not exactly inconspicuous," the blonde angel shrugged lightly, "Or all too efficient for that matter. Uses a lot of energy and leaves you more open to attack than instant transportation does."

Though disappearing at one place and reappearing at another just the blink of an eye later still was a form of flying, even if to the human eye it would look nothing like it. Balthazar liked the younger Winchester, but he wasn't going to put a lot of energy into explaining things to him that his very human mind couldn't fully grasp, anyway.

"All in all, it's not something you do unless you feel very comfortable with the company you're in," Balthazar said nearly a little melancholically. He shrugged the feeling off quickly and rolled his shoulders for a second before he willed his own pale blue wings to appear, "Tell you the truth, mate, it's been longer than I care to remember since anybody just did this for fun."

The message was clear enough. Heaven hadn't been a place for fun and games for a very long time and Sam didn't dare to guess how much trust there was between all the remaining angels in heaven at this point. He knew that things were better than they had been and that it was a safe and peaceful place once more, but that wasn't the same as saying that there was no leftover tension from years and years of fighting and mistrust.

No matter how the situation in general might have been, the three angels were clearly having the time of their lives. The younger Winchester wasn't sure if he had even heard Castiel laugh like that ever before, despite the fact that Gabriel and Balthazar had decided to team up against him and were poking and tickling him every time they managed to corner him – quite a feat thinking how there obviously were no corners in the sky.

Sam smiled, feeling happy for all three of them, even if Gabriel was the only one he cheered on.

* * *

Balthazar had always been good at hiding. Hell, you couldn't be a snarky and sarcastic bastard that liked to push people – including higher ups – to their limits without knowing how to hide from them in case you pushed them that little bit too far. Besides, he had been the one to come up with the basic design for the reality they currently were in – Castiel's sense of imagination had always left a lot to be desired – so if anyone could find the perfect hiding place, it was the blonde angel.

"Hi Bal," Gabriel's grin nearly split his face in half, especially after he saw the other angel jump slightly.

"Bloody hell!" Balthazar exclaimed. Sure, he had expected his little brother to find him, but that had been much quicker than anticipated and the brat had even made sure to appear behind him so he could scare him better. Useless to say that Balthazar was pretty damn proud of the little one.

"How did you find me so quickly?" the adult angel asked the little boy after they had zapped themselves back to where Castiel and Sam were waiting. Balthazar had thought he had made it very hard for anyone to locate him. Actually, he had expected that he would have to give the little one a few hints before he got frustrated with a fruitless search.

Gabriel shrugged lightly. Finding his family members was second nature to him, apparently. He couldn't have explained how he did it, if he had wanted to, though.

"I always know where you are," the archangel replied thoughtfully, standing next to his father, looking up to him to see if he had given a good answer. It couldn't have been too bad, because the adult simply smiled and ruffled his hair for a moment.

"Alright, where is Dean right now?" Balthazar asked with a grin. He didn't doubt that his little brother had told them the truth, but he thought that putting it to the test couldn't hurt, anyway.

"Uncle Dean is at the cinema," Gabriel answered without having to think about it first. He felt very clearly that his uncle was at the local cinema his dad sometimes took him to, too. It was the place that had popped into the archangel's mind as soon as his brother had asked him the question, anyway.

"I do not understand how going to the cinema would help him with the research for our new case," Castiel stated with a deep frown. Nobody wanted to explain the matter to the angel, even though Sam and Balthazar looked like they knew something more about it, however.

"How about you practice taking someone else with you when you transport yourself?" the blonde angel suggested, looking over to the younger Winchester. He was the only one of them who couldn't fly, after all. It wasn't like all too much could go wrong with this, either. What were the chances that Gabriel would totally lose his focus or control and only take half of his father with him or something alike?

Sam didn't exactly like the look Balthazar had just given him, but he could barely say no to this, in any case. At least, Castiel looked completely unconcerned which was reassuring.

"Alright, where are we going, Gabe?" the younger Winchester asked, trying to sound absolutely confident for the sake of keeping this a fun and stress free exercise for his little son.

"Over there," Gabriel decided and grabbed his father's hand a little tighter before he tried to get the two of them over to the big stone he had pointed out a moment earlier. Usually when he wanted to be somewhere he only had to let the part of him that made him feel all tingly when he concentrated on it take over and he would be there. Apparently, taking someone with him didn't make that much of a difference; he simply hadn't tried it before.

"Well done," Sam praised with a slightly shaky smile. He wasn't sure if it was the teleportation or the landing that made him feel a little disoriented, but it wasn't like it really mattered where the feeling came from.

He didn't get the time to think about it any longer before Gabriel zapped them to the other side of the clearing, onto a thick branch of a nearby tree and then back to his brothers in quick succession. The younger Winchester wasn't exactly proud of himself for pulling his hand free from the little archangel's grasp as hurriedly as he did after that, but he was pretty sure that his stomach couldn't take that much more.

"Looks like the family vacation to Hawaii has just become significantly cheaper," Balthazar commented casually, looking at the way Sam was swaying slightly on his feet with a smirk, "You'll warn us, if you need a bucket, won't you?"

An incredibly immature part of the younger Winchester's brain wanted to tell the blonde angel that he'd do his best to throw up on his designer shoes, but Gabriel had enough people who were giving him an example in how to be sarcastic, big mouthed and snarky as it was. He didn't need to add to that list.

"Do you want to fly another round?" Sam asked instead. That was one of these things they couldn't do back at their home. The ceilings weren't that high and there were enough people in the neighborhood that sprouting wings and flying around in the garden was out of the question, as well.

Gabriel's wings were back before the younger Winchester had even finished the question. Balthazar's weren't far behind and the two took off, leaving Sam and Castiel behind.

"Your brother is trying to leave all the research to me, isn't he?" the dark-haired angel suddenly asked, going back to a topic the younger Winchester hadn't thought would come up again.

Sam simply nodded in his surprise. Castiel was suspecting that Dean was being a lazy ass already anyway, so it didn't exactly count as ratting his older brother out.

"I don't understand," the angel admitted with a slight frown, "I would gladly do it without being tricked, if he asked for it."

"I always liked to think that it was a sign of trust when Dean set me up like that. I mean, he completely relies on whatever you're going to find out being just as good as everything he could have uncovered himself," the younger Winchester tried to explain, even though he was pretty sure he wasn't telling Castiel anything new here. The angel had spent quite a few years by Dean's side at this point and he had known most things there were to know about Dean Winchester even before that.

"The human antics are still puzzling to me most of the time," the dark-haired angel admitted after a short moment of intense consideration. He knew that Dean trusted him completely and valued his input in basically all things, but he still didn't understand why the older Winchester wouldn't just give the task of doing research to him from the start, if he intended to weasel out of it, anyway.

"Most humans aren't quite as difficult to understand as the average Winchester," Sam chuckled, not even trying to say that with a straight face. It was probably better, too. Castiel might use sarcasm himself at times and he understood it better than ever before when others used it, but it still was hard to predict which things he would still take too literally.

Above their heads Gabriel was chasing Balthazar until his eyes fell on his father and he swooped down gracefully, hovering just a few feet above the ground and grinning like he had just had the best idea ever.

Sam's eyes widened as soon as he caught on to what his son was probably thinking about. He was pretty sure that his body language was a clear enough 'hell no!' that saying it out loud would have been redundant, but it didn't look like Gabriel was going to be deterred, anyway. In fact, the archangel simply plastered himself to his father's back, sneaking his arms under the human's and wrapping them around his chest as best as he could. He had to struggle a little before he got the two of them into the air, but neither keeping his grip on Sam nor keeping the two of them airborne was much of a challenge to Gabriel after the initial takeoff.

"I will try to catch you, if Gabriel should lose his grip!" Castiel called after them. Balthazar's loud laughter wasn't exactly reassuring, either.

* * *

_You really like testing just how much I trust you, don't you, Gabe? I hope I passed that test… and I hope Balthazar will eventually forgive me about the shoes._


	22. Chapter 22

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, Mello18, Avalonemyst, Amethyst Violet Serenity, FireChildSlytherin5, Miahbug, Hesta101, Maddy Love Castiel, Tendencia, Keefer, kb18142, Evelina, Pizzapig, Bluegonfalon, L. Greene and Leahelisabeth for last chapter's reviews!

Thanks to everyone for the input in the Sam dating business, too. :-)**  
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**22**

_December 25th, 2017_

_I think I should stop being surprised by just how much our lives have changed one of these days, Gabe. It's not so easy to get over the fact that we have honest to God Christmas traditions in our family now, though…_

* * *

The mess on the kitchen table was big enough that the thought of simply buying a new one crossed the younger Winchester's mind for a short moment. Of course, they'd still have to throw the old one out and that would just spread the mess to a couple more rooms, so maybe just sucking it up and cleaning it would be the preferable option, after all.

Looking at the smiling faces of the two children who were still busy decorating gingerbread men made it hard to care about the mess, though. Not to mention that it had been Sam who had offered that Sophie could spend the morning with them after her mother had told him how damn near impossible it was to prepare everything for their family Christmas with her around.

The younger Winchester was lucky in that respect. Christmas was a feast they celebrated at Bobby's place every year and Jody did all the cooking with the helping hands of the older hunter. All he had to do was to get Gabriel ready to go over to them in time for lunch which always started the celebrations. All the others arrived at that time too, even though Castiel hardly ever ate anything. It still was nice to have the entire family together right from the start.

"Mr. W-W-Winchester," Sophie started, holding the gingerbread man she had been working on up for him to see, "It's mommy!"

Sam smiled and nodded dutifully. He couldn't quite remember what his reasoning behind starting this little tradition had been, but Gabriel had enjoyed it a lot from the first time on and apparently the little girl liked it a lot, too. The younger Winchester had actually baked the gingerbread men himself and had gotten a lot of edible toppings the kids could use to decorate them.

The first year the little archangel had made the gingerbread men for their family members, the second year he had started to say he was decorating them to look like them. He was getting better with it, too. Sophie apparently was a natural, as well. At least, it was easy enough to tell that all the pink and the sprinkles she had used were meant to represent her mother's clothing style.

"I made Cas!" Gabriel beamed, showing the gingerbread man he had given a brown coat with colored frosting and brilliant blue eyes with two m&m minis. The little boy put his work back on the tray where they stored all their finished pieces for now before he added determinedly, "But he can't bite off the head again!"

Sam bit back a chuckle, thinking of the previous year. Gabriel had handed the gingerbread man to his dark-haired brother as a gift and Castiel had assumed that he was meant to eat it like all the other sweets his little brother ever gave him.

"I'm sure Cas learned from his mistake," the younger Winchester stated seriously. The horrified look and loud complaints from the little boy should have been clear enough to tell Castiel that he was not meant to do that ever again.

"I'll give little Cas to uncle Dean," the archangel decided, "Uncle Dean will take good care of him!"

Sam nodded his agreement with that plan before he went to get the cellophane bags he had bought. They might as well do this right and he just assumed that the kids would like to have real presents to give away, too.

In the end, the younger Winchester did not manage to clean the kitchen before it was time to return Sophie to her parents, but he supposed he could always do that when they returned home later that night, or the next day. Okay, he'd surely do it the next day.

"Thank you, Sam," Rebecca stated gratefully, "You're a lifesaver!"

The younger Winchester smiled back and shrugged lightly. It wasn't like having Sophie around was much of a burden. She was a really nice girl who liked most of the things that Gabriel and Toshio did, after all. The kids didn't get up to any more or any less stupid or crazy things with her, either. Actually, all three of them were pretty well behaved, all things considered.

"Our pleasure," Sam replied, "She was a perfectly behaved young lady and a little artist, too."

Sophie grinned and held the cellophane bags with her gingerbread men in them up for her mother to see, handing them to her before she turned around again, grabbed Gabriel tight and planted a kiss on his mouth.

"C-C-Christmas kiss," she explained giggling and hurried to get inside around her mother, leaving a rather baffled looking little boy behind.

* * *

"She kissed me," Gabriel whispered to Dean a couple of hours later, "It was a Christmas kiss and it didn't suck."

The older Winchester nearly choked on the eggnog he had been drinking, but when he managed to swallow and take a deep breath he just looked at his nephew proudly and patted his back. The kid was a real Winchester! He took more after his uncle than his father, though. Yes, Dean often completely forgot that the archangel wasn't related to them by blood in any way these days. Actually, it wasn't so much forgetting as completely accepting that the kid was his nephew, no matter the circumstances.

"Well done, buddy!" the older Winchester stated and then, because he really couldn't help himself when it was about things like that, called toward Castiel, "Your little brother got kissed today!"

"Uncle Dean!" Gabriel nearly squeaked, blushing and hiding his face behind his palms.

The dark-haired angel looked at Dean with a slight frown, trying to figure out what sort of reaction he was meant to give. It had sounded like good news that made the older Winchester proud, but at the same time it looked like the archangel was embarrassed. In the end, he simply nodded curtly.

"Sophie kissed him when we dropped her off with her parents," Sam explained to Jody who was looking at him quizzically. He made sure to keep his tone silent and not make a big deal out of it, though.

"That's so cute," Sheriff Mills replied in a low tone, looking over to the little boy who was pouting at his uncle until Dean had had enough with that and tickled the pout off his face. She knew that the children were too little for something like that to necessarily mean all too much, but it was endearing, anyway.

"Too bad, brother. I wanted to coach you in these things before you got thrown into cold water," Balthazar commented casually with a slight smirk. His plan had been to let Sam explain all the birds and the bees and these technicalities that the kid had to know and that were very awkward and complicated to put in plain words for the first time. After that he would have given Gabriel a lesson about how these things actually worked, how to flirt properly and how to charm the panties off anyone in close vicinity within five minutes or less.

"No offense, Balthazar," Sam immediately stated in a no nonsense tone, "But you are not talking to my son about anything concerning women or relationships in general. Ever."

There was stunned silence for a short moment. Most of them weren't surprised to hear what the younger Winchester thought about the possibility of Balthazar of all people teaching Gabriel how relationships were meant to work. That he voiced his opinion that clearly was a bit of a surprise, however. It was just a moment longer before the older Winchester started to laugh, though.

"While we're at it," Sam added, "You neither."

Alright, the relationship advice Dean might give the archangel might not even be all too bad, depending on how serious he was going to take that talk. Sam had felt like pulling his brother's leg, anyway. Christmas might have been one of those holidays they all loved and spent as a family, but they weren't that big on peace and goodwill for everyone, at least not when it was about not quarrelling with any family members over the holidays. It had to be said that their arguments were mostly playful banter, however.

"You can't ban his own uncle from giving him advice on how to score!" the older Winchester shot back with all the righteous indignation he could muster up, "It's not like you could teach him anything in that department. I mean, it's been how long?"

Sam huffed and was just about to give a very fitting reply to that when Bobby came back into the room with his camera and tripod. That pretty much was the end of that conversation, too. It was highly doubtful that they would get back to it after taking their annual family picture and that probably was for the best, too.

The Christmas tree made a nice background for the picture, so they all gathered in front of it. A few short adjustments to postures and shirts were made and Gabriel insisted on his father picking him up, so he wasn't quite so small next to everyone, before Bobby could set the timer. All their smiles were genuine and they got another nice picture to add to the collection they had slowly but steadily built over the years.

* * *

Most of the presents had been opened and once more Sam smiled slightly at the thought that they all couldn't help themselves when it came to spoiling Gabriel rotten. There were a lot of new books and DVDs, clothes, sweets, games he could play with his two best friends and a brand new sled that excited the archangel enough that he insisted on sitting on it for the greater part of the evening.

In the end, the younger Winchester had to remind his son that he should go and get the little presents he had made for their family, too. Gabriel nodded quickly and ran to the bag his father had taken along to get the lovingly decorated gingerbread men.

"You only get one," the little boy told Bobby and Jody seriously before he got the bigger cellophane bag that held the two gingerbread men that had been too close to each other in the oven and were fused together at their hands and gave it to the two of them.

"Jody is the one with the badge and grandpa is the one with the beard," Gabriel explained and grinned widely when he received a tight hug from the sheriff and from the older hunter each.

Balthazar smiled amusedly when he saw that apparently he was meant to be the one with the v-neck shirt that had Armani written on it in barely readable letters. It wasn't quite easy to write with frosting the angel had to admit, however.

"Uncle Dean gets Cas to take care of," the little boy stated as he handed the gingerbread man with the trenchcoat to his uncle and then held the one with the blue pants and the green shirt out to his dark-haired brother, "And you can have uncle Dean, but only if you promise not to eat him!"

Sure, technically he had just given sweets to his family, but they were pieces of art, too. At least, they should stay intact as long as the little boy was watching! Not that it was so dangerous that the dark-haired angel would repeat his mistake, especially since the gingerbread had been wrapped in plastic this time.

"You heard him, Cassy," Balthazar stated seriously, nodding for emphasis, "Eating someone without their express permission is bad style, anyway."

Of course, Dean always had and always would deny it, but the bitchfaces ran in the family. He was just as capable of giving on as his younger brother was. That moment they were giving synchronized versions, too.

"I would never eat Dean without consulting him on the matter first," Castiel replied matter-of-factly. He had been speaking about the gingerbread man, but apparently not everybody understood him correctly. He didn't know why he would be getting strange looks like he did otherwise, anyway.

"If uncle Dean says it's okay, you can eat him," Gabriel decided after considering the matter for a moment.

Balthazar was laughing out loud before his little brother had even finished speaking.

* * *

"Someone's very tired," Sam stated with a low chuckle.

Gabriel had his arms loosely wrapped around his father's neck and his legs around his chest and let himself be carried toward the front door. He wasn't a baby anymore! He could stay up for a long time, but eleven p.m. was pushing it. They had been up early that day, after all.

Getting the little boy into his coat and shoes was a bit tricky, looking at how he didn't want to be set down, but it simply was too cold outside to walk back to their house without getting him properly dressed.

"Think you can make it to midnight for New Year's, champ?" Dean asked a little teasingly, ruffling his nephew's hair before he put his cap on for him. Afterward, the older Winchester looked at his younger brother adding, "We'll bring your stuff over tomorrow morning. No need to thank me, I expect chocolate chip pancakes and coffee in return."

After all, he had to take advantage of Sam's talent for cooking and of the fact that he was a guest at Bobby's and Sam's and could let them treat him as such sometimes.

"Can and will!" Gabriel stated determinedly, but his eyes were already closing and Sam was carrying the dead weight of a sleeping boy by the time they even made it out of the door.

The younger Winchester wasn't quite sure how the archangel managed to stay asleep with the freezing cold night air hitting the parts of his face not covered by the scarf, but the walk to their house only took a few minutes.

Gabriel only woke up for a moment when his father pulled the covers of his bed over his body – he had successfully slept through getting un- and redressed – to say, "G'night. Love you."

"Love you, too," Sam replied, kissing his son's forehead, "More than anything."

Cookie was waiting for his owner in the hallway and after a short sigh the younger Winchester nodded toward his bedroom door. Why not give the animal a Christmas present as well and allow him to spend the entire night in his bed this one time even without Gabriel being there?

Of course, before the night was over Sam was basically being squished between the seven year old boy and their family dog. He wasn't going to complain about it, though.

* * *

_I guess uncle Dean can have his chocolate chip pancakes, too. Merry Christmas!_


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Impala67-Ilana, L. Greene, midnight0211, FireChildSlytherin5, Miahbug, Evelina, keacdragon, Keefer, Tendencia, Nyx Ro, Pizzapig, CherylB1964, Maddy Love Castiel, CassXDeano and kb18142 for last chapter's reviews!**  
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**23**

_August 29th, 2018_

_Since I like to give you life lessons as times here's another one for you: Think about the pros and cons of getting a tattoo before you get one._

_Let's take a look at mine; Not getting possessed by demons, definitely a pro. Wearing a shirt at public pools on hot summer days, so people don't look at you like you're a possible Satanist? I'll list that as a con._

* * *

Swimming was one of the things Gabriel was a natural in. Knowing that it was physically impossible for the young archangel to drown – he didn't have to breathe, after all – made the days they went to the local public pool relaxing for Sam, as well.

"Alright, buddy. There you go," the younger Winchester smiled, handing the inflatable clownfish toy to his son and patting his back to send him off toward the pool. It was only a matter of time until the little boy came back to drag his father to the water with him, but until then he could read a few more pages in the political thriller he had picked up a couple of days ago.

It was unfortunate that neither Toshio nor Sophie had been able to come with them that day. The little girl was visiting her two uncles with her parents and Toshio's entire family was on vacation, too. Gabriel still didn't show that much interest in other kids, but he also didn't need a group around him to feel comfortable.

The little archangel spent some time just splashing around in the shallower part of the pool, playing with his clownfish before he ventured into deeper waters to dive for a little while. He knew that inflatable toys wouldn't stay under water no matter how hard he pushed them, but it was fun to try, anyway.

Gabriel was just about to go and get his father to swim with him when something or rather someone caught his eye. 'Interesting' was still the best word he had to describe how someone who had that certain glow around them that he had seen with Toshio and then Sophie looked to him. The thought to ask one of his brothers what exactly it was he saw had not yet occurred to him.

The little boy grabbed his clownfish and sneaked after the woman to see where she would be going. He was lucky that it was a busy day at the pool, so one more kid running around really didn't turn any heads and he could follow her without being noticed.

Gabriel cocked his head slightly, studying the blonde woman who had just reached her things. The blue of her bikini reminded the archangel of Castiel's eyes and he liked that her blanket had a picture of a dog on it. The moment she pulled the same book the archangel had seen his father read from her bag along with a container of cookies Gabriel decided to get closer.

"Hi," the little boy grinned, standing next to the blanket, shifting his weight from one foot to the other ever so often. He was a little nervous about just walking up to a complete stranger who was also an adult. He had heard the same cautionary tales as his friends, after all. He felt a pull toward her that he couldn't ignore, all the same.

"Hey," she replied a little unsure, putting the book aside again, "Do you need anything?"

Gabriel shook his head and plopped down on the ground next to her, holding his clownfish in front of his chest a little protectively. The archangel fixed his golden-brown eyes on her blue ones for a moment and smiled again. They weren't exactly Castiel-blue, but Gabriel hadn't seen anybody else who had blue eyes like that this far. The Balthazar-blue variety was nice too, anyway.

"My name is Gabriel Winchester," the little boy told her after a short moment, offering his hand, "And you look nice."

The blonde woman blinked and looked around for a moment to check if there was a group of kids watching which would most likely make this a part of a game of truth or dare. There were no other children who were looking their direction, however.

"Valerie Fisher," she replied, shaking his hand, "And you shouldn't be talking to strangers."

The words sounded only a little reprimanding, though. It wasn't exactly Valerie's place to tell the kid what he could and couldn't do, but she couldn't help worrying a little when she saw a child this unconcerned about chatting up random adults.

"I know your name now. You're not a stranger," Gabriel shrugged. A stranger was somebody you knew nothing about, after all. Unless Toshio's mother was right in which case a stranger was everybody your parents didn't know. The little archangel didn't feel like the rules that applied when he was with his two best friends applied when he was on his own, however. He could get away from anyone at anytime he wanted and he recognized a bad person when he saw one immediately, after all.

"You should really ask your parents about that, kiddo," Valerie stated, shaking her head amusedly. She had sat up as soon as the boy had sat down, so they were more or less on one eye-level.

The archangel nodded dutifully. He might ask his father about this later, just in case he ever needed the correct definition of a stranger again. Besides, he knew how much Sam liked to explain things to him.

"I'll ask daddy," Gabriel promised before he added proudly, "He's really smart and he reads a lot."

Valerie smiled, nodding along. She still wasn't quite sure how she had gotten into this situation, but the boy was nice and this far there were no panicky parents yelling for their Gabriel, so she supposed there was no harm in talking to the kid.

"Sounds great," she commented, thinking about offering the boy one of her cookies, but she really didn't want to teach him that it was okay to take sweets from strangers now, "Are you sure your mommy and daddy aren't looking for you right now?"

"I don't have a mother," the archangel answered with a shrug, "But I have a dog. His name is Cookie and he is at home."

That got another smile out of the blonde woman, though it was a slightly sad one. It didn't sound like the boy minded not having a mother, hearing something like that wasn't something that left her untouched, however.

"When I was your age I had a dog called Fluffy," Valerie replied a little awkwardly, standing up and offering her hand to the kid, "Come on, let's find your dad."

Gabriel took the offered hand without thinking about it twice. He didn't walk toward the direction he knew his father was, though. The little archangel didn't quite know why, but he got the feeling that he really wanted to see where this was going.

"Okay," Valerie said slowly, "We'll just ask a lifeguard to call for him over the speakers, alright?"

She really wasn't sure if she wasn't misjudging the situation severely, but she supposed that the boy could stop her at any moment. So the two of them went toward the entrance to find someone who could operate the speaker system.

* * *

"Gabriel Winchester is waiting for his father by the entrance. Gabriel Winchester's father, please come to the entrance!"

Sam didn't quite understand what was going on, but he hurried to follow the instructions. It wasn't that unlikely that his son had done something that was against the rules and had caught the attention of a lifeguard or something alike. This far Gabriel hadn't shown any tendencies to break rules on purpose just for the heck of it, but he and his two friends sure crossed lines sometimes when they got caught up in one of their games.

"Gabe!" Sam called as soon as he spotted the little boy. Well, that clearly wasn't a lifeguard standing next to him. At least, the younger Winchester didn't think that blue bikinis were what female lifeguards wore around here.

"Daddy!" Gabriel exclaimed happily and more or less jumped in his father's arms, leaving Valerie standing with his clownfish toy in her hands. He turned his head back to her just a moment later, though. "That's Val, daddy. She helped me find you again and she reads the same book you do and she's really nice and I want her to come and eat ice cream with us!"

The blonde woman gave a small wave and a crooked smile when she heard the boy ramble on. That wasn't exactly what she had expected, but it was nice to hear that she had left a good impression.

"Uh, okay," the younger Winchester replied ineloquently. He guessed he'd have to question Gabriel on the stunt he had pulled there later when they were alone again. He knew for a fact that the little archangel would have found him anywhere in the world, so he obviously wouldn't have needed anyone to help reunite them. Chances were that either the boy had looked lost and things had progressed from there or this was some sort of prank he had played on either Sam or Val or both of them.

"You sure you should reward him with ice cream for getting lost and talking to random strangers?" the woman asked with an amused smile. She really wasn't trying to tell the man how to raise his kid. In fact, she quite liked that he hadn't seemed to be mad at the boy for even a second. Most of the parents she knew freaked out over smaller things and then vented their frustrating by giving the kids hell they didn't deserve.

"I think I should reward you for making sure I get him back," the younger Winchester replied, hugging his son a bit tighter before he set him down again. She hadn't known that the little boy would have found his way back by himself, after all. "Also, you try to say no to him when he looks at you like that."

Truly, Gabriel's best puppy dog eyes had made an appearance at the very mention of him not getting the sweet treat he wanted. He could have still made his own appear, if his father had said he wouldn't buy any for him, but that was something that wouldn't have been nice to do. Most of the time, the archangel understood that Sam told him no about something for a reason and respected it. Sometimes, he didn't.

"Point taken," Valerie nodded seriously. She supposed that it was useless to say that she didn't want to come along then, too. Good, that saved her from saying no for politeness sake when she actually wouldn't mind sticking around for another while.

Gabriel insisted on chocolate ice cream, of course. Sam chose lemon for himself and Valerie asked for vanilla, offering to pay for herself and being shot down by the younger Winchester one last time.

"Don't you want to have your fish back?" the blonde asked after they had found a bench to sit on while they ate their ice cream.

"Yes, please!" Gabriel exclaimed the moment he was reminded of his toy, "His name is Garth."

"Garth?" Val asked slightly puzzled. She knew that children could come up with very creative names for their toys, but that was one she hadn't heard before.

"After Grandpa Bobby's funny friend," the archangel explained and Sam chuckled. They had only met Garth every once in a while over the years, but he had left an impression on the little boy for sure. Bobby was still manning the phone lines for other hunters and answered their questions about all sorts of things, but it looked like he wasn't opposed to training the very willing younger man to take over some of his duties at least for a part of the hunting community. Sam was obviously doing his part whenever he could, too. Between the three of them they had two people to look things up and a third who actually went into the field, if it was necessary. Well, Dean and Castiel counted there too, of course.

"He does voices and has hand puppets," Gabriel added with a grin, "And he looks funny, too."

Three things that were definitely true, too. Dean's face when Garth had brought out the hand puppets had been priceless, as well. Castiel had only cocked his head and later commented on the absurdity and impracticability of using socks on your hands.

"You like it when people do voices?" Val asked with a slight grin. Hell, she wasn't sure why she was trying to impress a little boy, but the enthusiasm with which Gabriel was nodding convinced her to go through with it, anyway. "Do you know who Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are?"

In the end, she didn't have to say 'Duck season!' 'Rabbit season!' more than twice before the little boy was laughing and the corners of Sam's mouth were definitely twitching. A short look on a nearby clock revealed that it was much later than she had anticipated already, however.

"It's been really nice to meet you, but I've got to get going," Val explained nearly apologetically as she stood up. A part of her felt sorry about having to go, too. She hadn't been in Sioux Falls for long as she had told Sam earlier and there weren't so many people around she knew. Alright, maybe it was a little pathetic to be sad about losing the chance to become friends with an eight year old, but as long as she didn't voice the thought out loud she didn't feel like too much of a loser.

"I want your phone number!" Gabriel blurted hastily before he added in a polite tone, "Can I have it, please?"

Valerie looked at Sam a little uncertain for a moment. It wouldn't feel right to give the boy her number, if his father didn't agree that it was okay. She took the slight shrug as a sign that she was meant to decide about this herself. Well, it wasn't like giving Gabriel her number could hurt, right? What were the chances that he would even call once? He'd probably forget all about her as soon as she was out of sight.

* * *

_I thought I had figured out how you're choosing your friends, Gabe. Sophie and Toshio both share your love for comic books and action cartoons and they are both exceptional kids who had a hard time finding friends when you first met them. I'm not sure how Val fits in there to be honest, but if you absolutely had to make friends with an adult, I think I'm glad that it was her._


	24. Chapter 24

**Author's note: **Thanks a lot to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendencia, Maddy Love Castiel, Keefer, define crazy, CassXDeano, CherylB1964, Pizzapig, Evelina, kb18142, SARA1988, FireChildSlytherin5, L. Greene, Mello18, Impala67-Ilana and RachelPhobia for last chapter's reviews!

I'd like to take a moment to tell you all that your reviews really mean a lot to me. I have serious self-confidence issues and never feel like anything I do or write is good enough. Every single one of you who has ever decided to drop me a note saying that you enjoy one of my stories has really made my days brighter. Thank you all a lot!

* * *

**24**

_November 10th, 2018_

_I gave in. Mari has been trying to send me on dates for years and I finally gave in._

* * *

"Yeah, very funny," Sam huffed into the telephone. Dean must have been laughing at him for a solid minute at the very least and it was getting old fast.

"Sammy, a Japanese lady of half your size and weight is pimping you out. I have no idea why I'd be laughing my head off about that," Dean replied sarcastically before another fit of laughter shut him up.

It looked like Toshio's mother wanted his younger brother to get laid about as badly as the older Winchester did. Hell, probably even more than he did. The most Dean had actively tried had been to open an account on a dating website in the name of his brother. Needless to say that Sam had forced him to take it down again the very moment he had found out about that. Okay, maybe he wouldn't have reacted quite as badly, if he hadn't found out by having to wade through a lot of message notifications the website had sent to his private e-mail account.

"Oh shut up, jerk," the younger Winchester groaned, "Y'know, sometimes I really think about never telling you anything again."

They both knew that it was a lie, though. Sam would have been perfectly capable and in a good position to keep most things from his brother for years, but Dean was still well informed about basically everything that was going on.

"You know you love me," the older Winchester commented nonchalantly, "So, spill your guts. What's she like?"

That Sam didn't really have an answer to that question was a part of the problem, too. Of course, the point of blind dates was to go in without knowing much about each other, but it wasn't exactly reassuring to think that he might find himself across from another Becky or something alike. Sure, he trusted Mari on a level not many people outside of the family had ever reached, but he wasn't quite sure if she really had an idea of what he wanted in a woman. At least, they had never really talked about that.

Sam hadn't gotten away without ever saying anything about Gabriel's mother, but after saying that she had died under horrible circumstances and that the little boy didn't remember her at all there hadn't been many more questions into that direction.

"You won't want to hear it Sam, but you'll just have to grit your teeth and get back in the saddle," Dean stated after listening to his brother describing why he didn't want to go in the least chick-flick way he was capable of, "About damn time, too. Giddy up, cowboy!"

The younger Winchester really would have liked to argue with that, but he had to admit that his older brother was probably right.

* * *

In the meantime Gabriel was helping his grandfather with putting a new bookcase together.

Jody had been trying to ease Bobby into changing little bits and pieces around the house for years. She had been rather subtle about it most of the time. The only thing she ever had demanded without accepting any objections was that everything that was meant for hunting and hunting alone had to be put at one of the few places they had been able to agree on. That had been mostly for practical reasons, however. As a newbie to the entire hunting world she had simply been afraid to throw something away or get her hands on something she really wasn't meant to, if the things were stored seemingly randomly around the entire house.

All in all, the older hunter had to say that the house hadn't been this tidy and clean ever since Karen's death and somehow he hadn't even noticed any big changes along the way. Yes, he knew exactly why he loved Jody.

"Phillips screwdriver," Bobby said, holding his hand out toward his grandson who handed him the right tool a few moments later. The archangel didn't even need to see what his grandfather was picturing in his mind anymore to grab the right things, but the ability to do just that sure had helped with learning the names of many things.

"How do you know you love someone?" Gabriel asked after another short moment of silence. When his grandfather looked up from the boards he was putting together with a slight frown the little archangel elaborated, "Toshio's mom says daddy needs someone to love."

He already knew that she had meant another kind of love than what his father felt for him and what he felt for his father. Mari had had to explain that to him immediately after he had overheard her say that. Of course, since he had already known too much at that point she had taken the opportunity to also ask him what he thought a possible new mommy should be like. Gabriel seriously hadn't known what to say to that. He had never had a mother and he didn't think he needed one.

"Short answer; when you love someone, you'll know," Bobby replied, knowing that this wasn't the last he would have to say on the topic. Whenever the archangel wanted to know something, he wanted all the details he could get. It wasn't always possible to predict in which direction the boy's questions would go, however.

"How does Toshio's mom know who daddy will love?" Gabriel added another question after a moment of intense consideration.

"It's more like a guessing game," the older hunter shrugged, getting back to assembling the bookshelf, "She knows your dad and she knows the woman and she thinks they might like each other. Women love playing matchmaker."

The chuckle that came from the open door announced Jody's presence. That was another thing women were good in from Bobby's experience. They always were around to hear things they hadn't been meant to hear.

"Do we now?" the sheriff asked, one hand on her hip and a challenging look firmly in place, "As far as I remember Dean and Balthazar were the ones in the family who constantly tried to push Sam to date."

"That's not the same as putting a woman in front of him and saying 'Date her!' every other week, Sweetheart," Bobby shot back. He hardly ever used any pet names when talking to Jody and she preferred it that way, but sometimes it was rather useful for making a point and for teasing her a little.

Sheriff Mills had to agree to that. The most important issue here had not yet been addressed as far as Jody could tell, however. "What do you think about your father dating someone?"

Gabriel looked up to the sheriff and shrugged lightly. He didn't know the woman so he could barely say that he didn't like her and he knew for a fact that his dad would always come back home to him and that he could go and fetch him whenever he wanted in theory. He simply didn't attach great meaning to this entire dating business as long as nothing came from it.

"I think it's cool," the little boy finally answered and added with a grin, "Val is babysitting."

Gabriel had put having her number to good use and they had met a couple of times in the past months. Sam had been rather wary for a while, but when he had seen that there wasn't that much of a difference between the friendship his son shared with his two best friends and the one he was forming with the blonde woman he had gradually relaxed about it.

Bobby and Jody exchanged a quick look after hearing that. The meaning behind it remained a mystery to the archangel, however.

* * *

"You're back early," Valerie commented over the back of the couch when Sam set foot into his living room just after half past ten. That he had only left at half past six meant that he had had a short date, indeed. It still had felt much too long.

"Not early enough," Sam groaned and let himself drop on the opposite side of the couch, "Gabe's in bed already?"

He would have liked to see his son before he went to bed, but of course he had given the woman a specific bedtime and it was nice to see that she had stuck to it. The younger Winchester knew that that wasn't quite as easy as it sounded.

"Yeah, you said he was meant to go to bed at nine," Val shrugged and grabbed the bowl of pretzels she had put on the table earlier, offering them to the younger Winchester, "Bad date?"

"Apparently, I reminded her of her ex-husband. Or maybe I didn't. She wouldn't quit talking about him, anyway," Sam stated with a snort, taking a few of the offered pretzels, "What did you have to promise him?"

Nobody had ever managed to get Gabriel to go to bed at the appointed time without having to do something for him or promise him something in return. It had to be said that most of his babysitters – Dean, Cas, Bobby and Balthazar mostly – didn't exactly discourage that sort of behavior by simply agreeing to whatever the little boy wanted rather quickly basically all the time.

"Ouch," Val grimaced in sympathy before she cleared her throat a little embarrassed, "Muffins for breakfast. I was going to bake them before you got home."

She also had had to agree to let Cookie sleep in his room with him, but to her knowledge that wasn't forbidden in the first place. She wouldn't have dared to try and take the dog outside with her, anyway. The husky had shown her the cold shoulder ever since she had first met him and she didn't want to test how quick he would be to turn on her, if she tried to force him to do anything.

"You gotta be careful with the promises you make to Gabe. He'll hold you to them mercilessly," Sam lectured with a small smile before he stood up and looked at her expectantly, "I'd say we get to it before it gets too late."

The blonde woman shook her head slightly in amusement, but followed the younger Winchester to the kitchen without a word.

"I really meant to bake them before you got home," she insisted after a few moments of silence, "I wouldn't have promised anything just to shut him up."

Tricking a little kid like that would just be plain wrong, after all. Val liked to think that she could have told Gabriel that he couldn't have muffins for breakfast, but still had to go to bed, anyway. She hadn't minded the thought of baking though and the boy had been an angel the entire time she had watched him, so he deserved them, too.

"I know," Sam replied and was a little surprised by how sure he was about it.

They worked in companionable silence for a little while. The younger Winchester mainly handed ingredients and kitchen utensils to the woman to make things progress a little faster.

"How long has it been since you've been on a date?" Valerie suddenly wanted to know. Her tone was perfectly casual, however.

"About an hour now," Sam deadpanned, "And before that… Are we talking about actual dates? That might have been more than ten years."

The blonde woman had just been about to put a couple of chocolate chips into her mouth, but after hearing that confession she stopped in her motions and just blinked a few times. Ten years were an awfully long time!

"Gabe's not even that old," Val said before she could stop herself. It was none of her business and she knew it. Sometimes she just talked faster than she could think.

"Uh… yeah," the younger Winchester shrugged, "Look, his mother-"

Sam had been fully prepared to tell some half truths about how he had loved Jo more like a sister and had never actually thought he would have a child with her, but Valerie stopped him with a gesture.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I shouldn't have said anything. I mean, if you want to talk, I'll listen, but you don't have to explain yourself to me," she quickly told him, going back to preparing the first tray of muffins for baking.

The younger Winchester nodded and remained silent. He didn't exactly want to lie to her, but that was what saying more about the topic would boil down to. If he could have, he would have told her the story, however. Then again, he wasn't too keen on being asked just how much he had had to drink over dinner.

"Daddy!" Gabriel yelled happily rushing toward the kitchen, Cookie hot on his heels.

"Hey, buddy," Sam smiled and squeezed the little archangel tight before he scratched their dog's head. Sometimes the younger Winchester thought of his brother's warning about him giving his son a daddy-complex to rival Michael's with his constant presence and not discouraging Gabriel's clinginess in the least, but he found it hard to worry about that too much. The boy had two best friends and didn't have a problem making contact to others, if he wanted to. He also had spent the night at Toshio's place a couple of times already and there had been no problem there. That Gabe's latest friend was a woman much closer to Sam's age than to his own was a little strange though, admittedly.

"I'm baking muffins for you and you don't stick to our deal," Valerie huffed in faked indignation, "I should take them all home with me."

"No!" Gabriel insisted immediately, grinning mischievously just a second later, "You said I get muffins if I go to bed, you didn't say to stay there!"

The archangel knew that she had made an empty threat anyway, but he still needed to point out that he hadn't broken any deals. Deals and promises were important and had to be honored, after all. Loopholes were a great thing, though. Balthazar had taught him that and Gabriel was great at finding them, if he wanted to.

"If you ever become a lawyer, promise to be on my side," Val stated, chuckling. She put the dough into the oven finally and set the timer.

"I think I can do that," the little boy replied very seriously. Lawyer wasn't high up on the list of things he wanted to do when he was all grown up, so it wasn't a hard promise to make. Besides, he couldn't imagine being on the other side, anyway.

"You're a little angel," Valerie smiled and put a hand on Gabriel's shoulder for a moment which caused the archangel to hug her tightly in return.

Cookie nosed Sam's hand like he wanted to know what his owner thought about the little scene they had just witnessed. Even if he had wanted to, the younger Winchester couldn't have said how exactly he felt about all of this, though.

* * *

_All in all, that evening didn't go as I thought it would._


	25. Chapter 25

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendencia, Maddy Love Castiel, CassXDeano, Keefer, kb18142, musicfiend2392, CherylB1964, Avalonemyst, Pizzapig, L. Greene, SARA1988, FireChildSlytherin5 and Piren for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

* * *

**25**

_January 4th, 2019_

_You, Toshio and Sophie are having a "re-match" with uncle Dean today. I'll probably never stop teasing him about how long it took my fearless big brother to dare and babysit the three of you on his own again._

* * *

"I want dad to stop dating," Gabriel whispered to his two best friends where they were huddled together in the corner of the living room. The archangel had told his friends that he wanted to speak about something and his uncle had insisted that they had to stay where he could see them. That was why they had decided to sit as close to each other as possible, so the adult wouldn't overhear what they were talking about.

Toshio and Sophie looked at their friend like they didn't understand what he was talking about and to be honest they didn't. The archangel had told them that his father had gone out a few times of course, but he had never complained about it before.

"But mom says she still knows a few women he will like," Toshio replied. He actually didn't care if the younger Winchester did or didn't date at all. He knew that for some reason his mother cared about it though and when she was on to something it was very hard to deter her.

Gabriel considered that for a few moments before he shook his head determinedly. "Dad is never happy when he comes home again. I don't want him to do that anymore!"

For some reason Sam had allowed Mari to arrange more dates for him. Well, it had been nearly impossible to say no to her after saying yes that one time. The second blind date had already been organized before the younger Winchester had been able to tell her that he didn't want another one. After that Mari had always found another good reason why he really should just get to know that very nice woman she knew.

That day he was having his fifth date. At least, they were meeting for some coffee in the afternoon which hopefully meant that there wouldn't be a repeat performance of date number three's try to immediately make him stay over night.

"You w-will n-n-never have a mommy," Sophie pointed out thoughtfully. She couldn't imagine growing up without her mother, but of course her mother had been around her entire life.

Gabriel shrugged, "I don't need a mom. I have you and Jody and Val."

"That's enough women," Toshio agreed, nodding very seriously. Hell, Sophie was already one girl too many for the little boy's taste, but she had been around for a long time and generally wasn't all too girly, so that was okay most of the time.

"Okay, that's enough," Dean suddenly commented loudly from his place on the couch, "If you are planning to bury my body in the backyard you might at least be more subtle about your plotting."

He had no idea what they had been talking about, but the older Winchester just had to assume that they were trying to come up with a way to get him bound to another chair or something worse. Last time he hadn't been prepared and had paid the price for it. This time he had come prepared!

"You never bury a body in your own backyard," Toshio replied without missing a beat.

Gabriel nodded along with what his friend was saying, "The police will immediately suspect you."

"And C-C-Cookie might d-dig you up," Sophie added with a nearly devilish grin.

Dean wasn't quite sure if he should be impressed that the three kids were thinking this logically, or if he should be very scared. Then again, he knew that the three of them had this thing for playing detective lately and he was sure that Gabriel loved his uncle by far too much to want to get rid of him.

"Okay, point taken, guys," the older Winchester stated, raising his hands in defeat, "So, what were you talking about? It's not nice to leave others out of the loop and not very smart to try and hide something from the guy who has power over all sweets for the next few hours."

The three children looked at each other for a few moments before Gabriel nodded slightly and they stood up and went over to the couch to include the adult into their discussion.

"D-D-Dates," Sophie explained, elaborating a little after the older Winchester gave her a puzzled look, "We were t-talking about dates."

Alright, maybe Dean didn't want to have a part of that conversation, after all. He wasn't quite sure how much about relationships Sam had ever explained to Gabriel and he had no idea what exactly the other two would know, so he was walking on thin ice here. If he accidentally mentioned anything about the birds and the bees that was even slightly more graphic than anything their parents had already told them, he would definitely be in trouble.

"Should every man have a woman?" Toshio asked, not noticing the slight distress he was causing the adult with the question. He thought it would be good to know what another man thought about that, though. His mother definitely believed that Sam needed a woman, maybe Dean would see things differently?

"Uh…" the older Winchester replied ineloquently. He really was only trying to stall until someone hopefully came up with a question he could answer more easily.

"No," Sophie answered the question for him in her best lecturing tone, "My u-uncle Jake has uncle Christopher and they are h-happy."

Gabriel nodded along with that thoughtfully. Right, not every man needed a woman. But Sophie's uncle had a man instead of a woman which meant he still had somebody. So, the real question was if every man needed someone else to be happy.

"Good point," Dean agreed. So, the fact that some families didn't have a man and a woman in them wasn't new to any of them. The older Winchester couldn't remember exactly, but he didn't think that he had known that homosexuals even existed at the age of eight. Then again, he had known a lot of other things then. Somehow, the thought of John Winchester sitting him down to explain to him how some families had two mommies or two daddies and possibly going into more detail was more frightening than the talks about monsters had been. "Why are you thinking about things like that, anyway?"

"Because Toshio's mom wants daddy to keep dating and I don't," Gabriel explained seriously, fixing his uncle's eyes with his own in the way that made Dean think that the little boy might be reading his mind. He obviously really wanted to know what his uncle thought about all of this, anyway.

The older Winchester exhaled soundly, partly in relief. So, the complicated questions about relationship dynamics were actually not so complicated questions about Sammy going on dates. At least, it was a topic Dean was pretty sure he could talk about with the kids.

"He's never happy when he comes home and I don't want dad to have to do something that doesn't make him happy!" Gabriel elaborated without being asked, because he already knew the question was coming.

"There are things in life you have to do, if they make you happy or not," Toshio stated in a tone that made clear that he was repeating something he had heard from his parents, most likely a hundred times over, "Like going to the dentist or cleaning your room."

The little archangel looked at his best friend like he had just explained a completely foreign concept to him, which to be honest he had. There wasn't much Gabriel ever had to do if he didn't want to, after all.

"Uh… First, you're right there," Dean started with throwing Toshio a little bone, because there was quite a lot of truth in what the boy had just said for most people, "But dating isn't exactly one of those things. Not if you're doing it right, anyway."

The older Winchester realized his mistake even before the three children looked at him highly interested. He had just told them that there was a right way of dating and that he knew how that worked. Damn.

He worked hard to at least bite back the comment about how Sam clearly was doing it wrong, if he wasn't enjoying himself at all. Hey, Dean could have told his younger brother how to get a good time out of a bad date, but Sam's moral standards would stand in the way of that, anyway.

"Okay," the older Winchester shrugged. What the hell, he had said too much already, anyway. "Look, the thing is when you're dating the wrong people it sucks pretty badly and that's why Sam doesn't look happy when he comes back. Dating the right people doesn't suck… at least not in a bad way."

"How can something suck in a good way?" Gabriel immediately demanded to know.

Of course, the kids couldn't just miss that little bit of innuendo that had slipped past Dean's inner censor when he hadn't paid attention. Well, he didn't have to censor himself all that much usually, it was no wonder that he was out of practice!

"I'll tell you when you're older," the adult promised, hoping that his nephew wasn't seeing any of the pictures he had on his mind that very moment. That would be too much information for sure. That the boy didn't give him any disgusted or freaked out looks spoke for him respecting the privacy of Dean's mind, luckily.

"Mr. W-W-Winchester needs the right p-person," Sophie concluded, "Mommy says the r-right person is one who m-makes you smile and s-someone you can argue with and still l-love them."

That explanation was one of the reasons why the little girl didn't freak out every time her parents got into one of their rather loud arguments, the main reason she didn't worry too much was that most of the time their fights ended with one or both of them saying 'I love you' anyway.

"That sounds good," Gabriel agreed, nodding thoughtfully, "And she has to like me and Cookie and sweets."

"And she has to be smart," Toshio added, "Your dad knows a lot, he won't want a stupid woman. And she shouldn't want more kids, 'cause siblings suck."

Sophie nodded along to that. They all were only children, but everyone in her and Toshio's class who had siblings only complained about them, especially younger siblings. Dean came close to commenting on that point, but he really didn't want to get involved into the topic any more than he had to.

"C-Cousins are better," the little girl stated decisively, "My u-uncles are adopting."

The older Winchester really didn't like the look the little archangel was throwing his way after hearing that piece of information. Maybe he would have preferred being bound to chairs over this, after all.

"Uncle Dean…?" Gabriel tried to start a question, but he didn't get any further before he was rudely interrupted.

"Who wants cookies? Boy, do I want cookies!" Dean nearly jumped off the couch and hurried toward the kitchen. He just hoped Sam had enough sweets at home to distract the kids for however long it would take until they came up with another topic.

* * *

"No wonder your son wants to ban you from ever dating again, if you always look like this when you come back," Dean said with a snort as soon as he laid eyes on his younger brother.

He had allowed the three children to go to Gabriel's room to continue their plotting after more and more things the older Winchester couldn't or shouldn't comment on had come up. The last thing he had heard was that Toshio's mother probably wasn't selecting the women Sam was meant to date carefully enough and that someone else should try instead.

Being the good brother Dean generally was he didn't dream of warning his younger brother that something might be coming his way there.

"He what?" the younger Winchester frowned. Then again, after his recent experiences he would welcome it, if Gabriel clearly said that he didn't want him to date again. That was something he could and would respect. Alright, it was something he'd shamelessly use as an excuse to stop trying.

"Gabe thinks daddy is not enjoying himself and shouldn't date anymore," Dean elaborated a little. He wasn't going to say anything more about this, however. He really didn't want to talk to Sam about his feelings concerning the topic. That's what Jody and Bobby – and possible Balthazar – were for.

"Marriage is not a word I want to hear on a first date, especially before we even get our coffees," the younger Winchester replied a little defensively. How was he meant to enjoy himself when the dates Mari arranged for him all just went badly? The first one wouldn't shut up about her ex, the second one had been okay but rather boring, the third one had wanted to drag him to her bedroom immediately, the fourth one had seemed to have some deep seated issues with men and the latest one had wanted to drag him to the altar as quickly as possible.

"Did you at least get laid?" Dean asked casually.

The bitchface his younger brother threw his way was answer enough for that question. The intensity of said bitchface made pretty clear that it hadn't only been the last date that had ended before anything had happened, too.

"Sometimes I really worry about you, Sammy," the older Winchester stated with faked concern, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Those blue balls will kill you some day."

Sam didn't say anything and simply gave his brother a moderately forceful punch to the upper arm. He might have wanted to rant about how not everyone was a sex-addict a little, but hearing footsteps on the stairs had forced him to make a quick, nonverbal reply instead.

Gabriel looked at his father critically for a moment before he hugged him tight. He didn't look any happier than he had the last few times and that only made the boy's resolution to do something about that stronger.

"It was a boring afternoon, Gabe," the younger Winchester answered the unasked question, "I'm glad to be home again."

The three kids exchanged a short look between them. 'Mustn't be boring' got added to their mental checklist for suitable dates for Sam immediately.

* * *

_Apparently, you and your friends had so much to talk about that you didn't have any time left to give uncle Dean hell. I am a little curious what you were discussing, but I guess you'll tell me eventually._


	26. Chapter 26

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendendica, Mello18, Maddy Love Castiel, CassXDeano, Avalonemyst, L. Greene, musicfiend2392, Hesta101, Miahbug, kb18142, Pizzapig, Shorty22133, CherylB1964 and FireChildSlytherin5 for last chapter's reviews! You guys rock!**  
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**26**

_February 1st, 2019_

_Madagascar 7: Down Under – Those freaking animals will never manage to get back home, but your love for the penguins and the lemur king keeps us coming back, anyway._

* * *

"You really need to stop worrying, Sam," Valerie stated, watching how Gabriel tried to make up his mind about the snacks he wanted for the movie, "Gabe is a great kid. Funny, polite and smarter than some adults I know. Obviously, you're doing everything right."

Okay, maybe the younger Winchester shouldn't have mentioned that he wondered if Mari wasn't right when she said that the little archangel should have a mother figure in his life. It just was a thought that wouldn't leave him alone and he couldn't talk this over with Toshio's mother for obvious reasons or with his brother for even more obvious reasons.

"Thanks," Sam replied honestly, giving the woman a short smile, "I can't help thinking that I might be depriving him of something, though."

That very moment, he also couldn't help thinking that he was seriously asking one of his still eight year old son's friends for advice. Then again, the blonde woman had stopped being only Gabriel's friend months ago. At least, the younger Winchester liked to think that the two of them were friends, too.

"You just really like to worry, don't you?" Val asked, raising an eyebrow, "You're depriving him of something by not magically finding the right woman to fit into your lives?"

"If you say it like that, I sound like a total moron," the younger Winchester huffed, but he had to admit that she had a point. It wasn't like he hadn't tried. Okay, he hadn't tried for years, but lately he had and it had gone badly. Hell, Gabriel had even wanted him to stop letting Mari set him up on dates.

"Not a moron, just someone who worries too much," Valerie clarified, putting her hand on his shoulder reassuringly for a few moments before she walked up to the little boy to see, if he had finally made his choice.

The younger Winchester exhaled soundly and took a look at the menu of the snack bar himself. He already knew that he just wanted some popcorn and soda, though. It looked like Gabriel had a much harder time deciding what he wanted. No surprise there, as long as it qualified as a snack he liked just about everything.

"You can't have more stuff than you can carry yourself," Sam stated after watching his son think for another few moments. He had to draw the line somewhere, after all.

The boy looked at the sizes of the popcorn bags and buckets on display, trying to figure out which one of them he could carry with one arm, so he could still have something to drink. Well, buckets were easier to hold than bags which meant he'd have to get one of those, even if they were the bigger sizes. Not that Gabriel was complaining about that. He also ordered a big bag of M&Ms, because he could stuff those into the pocket of his hoodie. It had never been said that he had to carry the things in his hands, after all!

"And once you're done with your popcorn we can use the bucket as a swimming pool," the younger Winchester commented, but he paid for their things without saying anything more about it, anyway. If he had really wanted to prevent the archangel from getting the most sweets he could get away with, he would have had to set stricter rules. Besides, his son had stopped before he had both pockets and the hood full of stuff, too. That nearly counted as something approaching moderation.

The littlest Winchester only grinned, grabbed his food and drink and walked off toward the theater their movie would be showed in.

"With all the stuff he eats you'd think he would be as tall as you and weight at least four hundred pounds by now," Valerie mused. Of course, she wasn't too serious about it, though. Gabe was a very active boy and surely burned the hell of a lot of calories just by running around and climbing on things.

"He clearly has his uncle's metabolism," Sam joked, "If you ever meet my brother, you'll know what I'm talking about."

A part of the younger Winchester strongly protested the idea of ever introducing Dean and Val to each other, however. A couple of years ago she would have been exactly his type, after all. Sam liked to make himself believe that he was mostly worried about Gabriel being upset, if his uncle had an affair with one of his friends, though.

"Lucky him," Val chuckled, "The things that run in my family are big butts and nearsightedness."

The younger Winchester laughed and decided not to say that both things had obviously decided to skip her. At least, he was pretty sure she wasn't wearing contact lenses and calling her butt too big would definitely be a lie, too. He also opted not to say anything about the Winchester luck that the archangel hopefully hadn't inherited. He hadn't even finished the thought before Gabriel ran into some guy who had stopped walking in front of him all of a sudden and spilled some of his soda over the back of the man's pants.

The part of Sam's mind that wasn't giving red alert and screaming bloody murder as soon as the first harsh word fell was wondering if this was his former hunter life shining through or if it was his parental instinct. It was probably the latter, though. He was fully prepared to rip the jerk a new one, Valerie was the split of a second faster, however.

"Jesus Christ, he didn't do it on purpose you asshole!" she yelled at the guy who might not have been much taller than her, but clearly made up for height with muscles.

It probably was the stupidest thing ever, but this was the moment when Sam looked at the woman he had known for a couple of months already and first realized that he wasn't thinking of her as only a friend. Not to mention that she fit into their lives damn well and Gabriel had more or less magically found her. Well, damn.

The younger Winchester was pretty sure that he could have taken the other guy down with little difficulties, but he still was glad when he just glared at all of them for a moment and then turned around and left. Gabriel hadn't even noticed the evil look that he been thrown his way, because he was too busy gaping at the blonde woman.

"I'm sorry," Val apologized meekly.

"It's okay," the archangel stated seriously, nodding for emphasis, "I already knew that word."

* * *

"I want to sit there," Gabriel told his father with the puppy dog look that was guaranteed to get him what he wanted. At least, as long as it was within reasonable parameters. Wanting to swap seats with his dad shouldn't be crossing any lines.

Sam frowned slightly but did as the archangel requested. The little boy had been sitting between the two adults before, so now he was sitting next to his father who was sitting next to Valerie.

"Thanks daddy," Gabriel said politely and hid his very satisfied grin by stuffing his mouth full of popcorn. He, Sophie and Toshio had decided that there was only one woman they knew who might be a suitable dating partner for Sam. Getting them together shouldn't be that hard to do now!

They had made a good plan, of course. Cinemas were good places for dates, as they had learned from various TV shows and comic books. So, step one had been to get Sam and Val to go to the cinema together. Step two was making a date out of it and the archangel was working on that. They already were sitting next to each other which was one of the things people did on dates. All in all, he was content with the progress he had made this far. He also was very satisfied with his choice of snacks. It truly was a successful day.

The movie was about what Sam had expected after seeing the last six. It really was doubtful that those animals would ever make it back home, but that plotline seemed to have left the building somewhere around part four, anyway.

The younger Winchester had to admit that looking at how long the series had been going on, it still was somewhat good, at least. The two hours of sitting there also gave him the chance to think a few things through, not that he came to a conclusion he could definitely work with.

What he was pretty sure about was that his little son was trying to set him up with the blonde woman currently sitting next to him and also that he didn't mind. He still hadn't managed to figure out when exactly this had started – he doubted that even the archangel himself would be able to pinpoint the exact moment he had gone from just wanting to have one of his friends around to pushing her as a potential partner on his father – or how to proceed from here, though.

In the end, Sam just offered his popcorn bag to Valerie. It might not have been a great gestured, but it was something and it fit the situation they were currently in. The woman smiled and their hands brushed for a moment when she reached into the bag. The younger Winchester wasn't all too sure if it had been deliberate or just a coincidence, though.

"Those penguins are awesome!" Gabriel exclaimed as soon as the credits rolled, "Can we go to the zoo soon? Can we?"

The archangel wanted to see the real penguins there and ask them, if they ever made plans to escape or take over the zoo. It would be totally cool, if they did. The little boy didn't honestly expect them to come up with any elaborate schemes, though. He had learned that a lot of animals thought about feeding time and how totally strange humans looked most of the time over the years. There were always some that were more curious than others and thought about things more though and those would be the ones Gabriel was interested in.

Sam nodded and then asked a little teasingly, "But we can go and eat pizza first?"

"The zoo will still be there tomorrow," the archangel replied in a tone that made perfectly clear that he thought his father was just being silly. The younger Winchester couldn't help thinking that he was probably going to hear that tone more often than he would be comfortable with once his son hit puberty.

* * *

"I am starting to think he forgot," Val shook her head slightly, giving the younger Winchester an amused smile.

Once they had been back at the Winchesters' home Gabriel had announced that there was something he wanted to show her and she should wait in the living room for a couple of minutes. It had been fifteen minutes and still no sign that the boy would return anytime soon.

"Actually, I think he just wanted you to stick around a little longer," Sam replied with a light shrug. It was quite possible that they both had thought of that before, but one of them had to make the first step and talk about the elephant in the room. Or rather, the archangel not in the room.

Val nodded slightly but remained silent. She wasn't stupid and she had been single long enough to know when someone was trying to set her up with someone else. That the eight year old kid she was friends with was trying to push her on his father who she was friends with too was a first time experience for her, though.

Before Sam could say anything more Cookie wandered into the room and gave his owner a long look and then sat on the carpet next to the blonde woman's legs and lay his head on top of her knees. The younger Winchester couldn't help thinking that Gabriel had something to do with this, but he also knew that their dog wasn't easy to persuade to be more than barely civil around most people. To actually go for any kind of contact he had to at least like her a little.

"Well, that's new," Val murmured surprised, slowly reaching for the husky's head to scratch him behind the ears. Maybe she was pushing her luck, but sometimes you just had to push to get somewhere.

Cookie raised his head a little and looked at the woman, but then put his head back down and allowed her to continue scratching behind his ears.

"Val, I-" apparently Sam's slightly awkward expression and general posture gave away what he had been about to say and he was promptly interrupted before he could get even one more word out.

"Gabe is a wonderful kid and you're a great guy," Valerie stated in a tone that sounded apologetic enough to let the younger Winchester know that he wouldn't like what was coming next, "But I'm not going to be that person you settle for because your son and your dog like her."

Sam supposed that he should have expected that sort of response. He had to admit that he kind of deserved it, too. However, she hadn't exactly turned him down, yet.

"That's not what this is all about," the younger Winchester assured her, looking her directly in the eyes to show how serious he was about this. It was about him taking an awful long time to realize that he probably had had the woman he had been looking for – or rather Mari had been searching for him – in front of him the entire time.

"Sam, you put me in friend zone before I even said hello the first time we met," Val pointed out, regret evident in her tone, "Are you sure you want to change that now?"

For once, Sam decided that the approach his older brother might choose for a situation like this might be the right one. Not that he'd ever tell Dean about it.

Cookie huffed and rolled himself into a tight ball on the carpet when his owner moved closer to the woman, put his palm against the side of her face and leaned in for a kiss that only lasted a few moments but left her rather breathless, anyway.

"Does that feel like I'm unsure?" the younger Winchester asked in a soft tone, smiling.

"I'm not completely convinced, yet. Can we try that again?" Val replied with a small grin and a definitely hopeful expression.

Who was Sam to refuse such a lovely plea?

* * *

_I guess next time I go on a date Bobby and Jody will have to look after you, Val definitely won't be available for babysitting._


	27. Chapter 27

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Mello18, Maddy Love Castiel, Tendencia, FireChildSlytherin5, L. Greene, CassXDeano, Keefer, Avalonemyst, kb18142, CherylB1964, Shorty22133, Evelina and Pizzapig for last chapter's reviews!**  
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**27**

_March 24th, 2019_

_You're nine years old today. Isn't it incredibly how fast time passes? Sometimes I still see a little baby when I look at you, but you are growing up so quickly. It's still great to see you grow and learn new things each day. Anyway, we're having your traditional birthday party at Bobby's today and you wanted Val to come and meet everyone, too. Boy, am I curious to see how that goes… curious and a little scared._

* * *

"I'm nine now," Gabriel explained to the two adults as they all put their coats on to go over to Bobby's place, "That means I'm half an adult!"

Sam smiled and nodded. It was true, after all. The little archangel had nine more years until he would be considered an adult, though the younger Winchester doubted that he'd manage to let go of seeing his boy as a kid that quickly.

"I'll still get birthday presents when I'm an adult, right?" Gabriel added thoughtfully after a few moments of consideration.

If they celebrated other birthdays than the archangel's at all, they didn't really exchange gifts, so it was understandable that the boy was worried about losing one of the days where everything revolved around him and where he got many gifts from his entire family. He wouldn't have had to worry, though. Sam doubted that they would manage to stop spoiling him no matter how old he got.

"Of course," the younger Winchester replied, "You'll always be our baby that we need to spoil."

"Good," Gabriel decided with a bright grin and grabbed the door handle. They had to leave really soon, if they wanted to get over to their family in time. Of course, nobody would dare to start celebrating without the birthday boy, but better safe than sorry.

Valerie shook her head slightly with a chuckle. It was good to see that the boy clearly wanted to take his time with growing up completely. There were enough kids that were forced to be little adults by far too soon, anyway.

"You ready?" Sam whispered, wrapping his arm around her waist. He might have gone a little overboard with preparing her for meeting the extended family he had to admit. The younger Winchester just hoped he hadn't actually scared her, but some strangeness was to be expected and he had thought he should warn her before she found out by herself.

"Please, they're your family," Val replied with a grin that was only a little forced, "I'm going to love them!"

Besides, she already knew Bobby and Jody, so that was something and from the stories she had heard Sam's brother was awesome and so were Castiel and Balthazar – Gabriel's words, of course.

They didn't even get out of the door before an unsuspected congratulator showed up, however.

"Cowley!" the archangel yelled excitedly and hugged the king of hell tight.

"You're old enough to say it right now, boy," the demon pointed out surprisingly patient, even though he had had to remind the kid of that every time he saw him. He was generally on his best behavior when he came for one of his visits, however. The younger Winchester was never exactly happy to see him – pure instinct had made him take a stand slightly in front of his girlfriend the moment he had seen the demon – but he had sort of gotten used to seeing him every now and then, all the same.

"Sorry, Crowley," Gabriel replied politely before he added in an upbeat tone, "It's my birthday today!"

They didn't see the demon often, but there hadn't been a year when he hadn't checked in on them. The archangel was always happy to see him too, which kept his father from finding ways to keep him away for good. At the same time, Crowley wasn't sure if he was pleased to know that he didn't look threatening in the least to Gabriel. Alright, it had been his plan to make sure that the archangel never saw a reason to smite him and the rest of hell – or at least leave him standing, if he decided to try to get rid of the rest of hell – but it wasn't good for his ego to know that a little kid thought he was some sort of nonthreatening uncle.

"And that's exactly why I wanted to see my favorite squab," the king of hell stated with a smirk, not showing any of the thoughts that had just run through his head and handed a present to the boy.

"I want to open it, can I daddy?" Gabriel asked, giving his father the dreaded puppy dog eyes. He cheered and opened the gift as soon as his father gave him a nod.

"Well, well, and what do we have here?" Crowley asked while the archangel was busy uncovering the toy he had brought alone, "The elusive Sasquatch has found his mate."

"Are you saying I'm big and hairy?" Valerie couldn't help asking. Sam's entire body language wasn't very encouraging, but she couldn't say that she was intimidated by the guy. Seeing how Gabriel had reacted to him surely helped with not being scared in the least, as well.

"I like this one," the king of hell pointed out in his usual snobbish tone, "She might be a keeper."

The younger Winchester completely agreed, but that didn't mean that he liked Crowley eyeing up his girlfriend any. Luckily, Gabriel was quick with getting rid of the wrapping paper and was holding his brand new, rather big black plushy in front of him, cocking his head slightly.

"It's a hellhound," the demon told the boy, "Make sure to show it to your uncle."

Obviously, the toy came with a rather authentic fire and brimstone smell, too. It wasn't so bad that it couldn't have been put to Gabriel's collection of plushies, but it was noticeable enough once you got closer.

"Thank you!" the archangel grinned, hugging the king of hell once more. He liked the big black dog with the glowing red eyes he had just received, even if it smelled funny. Maybe the smell would go away after a while, though. "Do you want to come see grandpa with us?"

"I am afraid I'll have to decline," Crowley answered, sounding like he really regretted it, "There is always the very real chance that I will get stuck at that house and I have things to do."

They said their goodbyes rather quickly after that. The younger Winchester asked his son to leave the plushy in his room for now. Uncle Dean could take a look at it at some other time. The argument that they would have a lot of presents to carry home later and would need all their hands for that helped with convincing the boy, too.

"What was that all about?" Valerie asked the moment Gabriel disappeared. She was pretty sure that she was missing something here and it possibly was something that might be good to know.

"Crowley is like the uncle nobody really likes," Sam explained with a light shrug, wrapping his arm around Val's waist again before he admitted, "Okay, Gabe likes him, but he can be hell to be around."

The explanation was good enough for the blonde woman. She knew that there were many things the younger Winchester wasn't telling her, but she supposed she had a lot of time to find out about all of those secrets or whatever they really were. After all, how bad could they really be?

* * *

"Most important question," Balthazar stated in an overly serious tone after he had spent some time talking to Valerie. This far he had more or less approved of everything he had heard. "Do you have any single sisters?"

"Sorry, only child," Val replied with a lightly shrug, squeezing Sam's hand for a moment. This far everything was going well enough she thought. Dean had simply patted his younger brother's back approvingly after he had taken a good look at them and she already knew that Jody was quite happy to have another woman around.

"Bugger, all the best people are," the blonde angel complained half-heartedly.

"Is that so, brother?" Castiel asked. The corners of his mouth were definitely twitching which was the thing that always gave away when he was trying to make a joke he thought was hilarious. Most of them weren't even half-bad these days.

"Whoever taught you how humor works should be quartered, fried and sold at KFC," Balthazar stated seriously. Then again, he had been one of the people trying to get Cas to loosen up and act a little more natural. That didn't mean that he had to approve when his brother started to make fun of him, though.

"You will not put a finger on Dean," the dark-haired angel demanded seriously.

Sam chuckled and nearly dragged Valerie away from the bickering angels. He would probably have to try and explain a few things without lying all too much later on. They had already decided to tell everyone who wanted to know that Castiel and Balthazar were Harvelles and brothers of Gabriel's mother. Sure, it was a lie, but they couldn't tell the truth about those things and as lies went it wasn't a bad one. The younger Winchester thought he could justify the half-truths and outright lies he had had to tell this far, anyway.

"Dinner is ready!" the archangel yelled and came running to more or less drag Sam and Val to the dining room. He had asked Jody to prepare steak and corn cobs for his birthday meal and he was really hungry. Not to mention there would be cake afterward!

"Don't force me to feed you," Dean hissed toward Castiel after they all were seated and the angel had received his plate but didn't show any signs that he actually planned to even try any of the food. Eating was always something the angel had to be forced to do, because he simply didn't see the point of it. Other than his brothers he also seemed to think the taste was good, but not worth the hassle most of the time. He generally only ate the occasional piece of pie.

And damn, maybe Dean had spoken a little louder than he had intended, because he was getting strange and definitely amused looks from everyone present. Why did Castiel always have to provoke him to make a fool out of himself?

"You could adopt a baby, if you want someone to feed," Gabriel pointed out seriously, "I would like a cousin!"

Sophie loved her little adopted cousin, after all. That sounded like a good alternative to having little siblings which was supposed to suck. He probably would have to talk to his dad about that soon. As far as Gabriel knew a man and a woman who were together could produce offspring at basically any time. He had never bothered to learn the specifics about that, however. His dad had been single and not even seeing women most of the time and nobody else he knew had had plans to have a baby, either.

Castiel cocked his head curiously at the suggestion while Dean turned beet red and everyone else was chuckling or simply laughing. If looks could have killed basically the entire family would have dropped dead that very moment.

Gabriel grinned and grabbed his corn cob to take a bite. What he didn't expect was the slight pain and the subsequent strange feeling in his mouth. The archangel put the corn cob down and reached into his mouth with two fingers and pulled the tooth that had come lose with the last bite he had taken out, staring at it with a baffled expression.

"Oh bugger, you found your self-destruct button," Balthazar stated seriously enough to make his little brother look at him panicky for a moment.

Sam huffed and shot the blonde angel an annoyed look before he put his hand on his son's shoulder reassuringly. "You're losing your baby teeth. You'll have a new one soon."

Gabriel nodded and handed his tooth to his father for safekeeping. He didn't really know what to do with that part of him now that it was no longer attached to him. Besides, poking his tongue in the gap the tooth had left behind was by far more interesting.

To tell the truth, the younger Winchester had already started to wonder when that would finally happen. Apparently, archangels' baby teeth were built to last a little longer than those of most children.

"That's actually really cool," Dean pointed out, giving his nephew a thumbs up, "You can't be a big boy running around with baby teeth, right?"

The archangel grinned and nodded again. Yes, of course. That made a lot of sense! He had said that he was half an adult now himself earlier and so losing his baby teeth made sense. It didn't really hurt or bother him, anyway.

"I hope you can still eat cake with one missing tooth," Jody joked lightheartedly. She had made a chocolate cake with little chunks of chocolate in it and with chocolate icing just like the boy liked best, after all.

"What, no pie?" the older Winchester asked, "I thought I had taught you better."

Something was definitely going wrong. Castiel couldn't be convinced that eating was awesome – other than with Cheeseburgers which he devoured with great pleasure every now and then – and now his nephew was settling for something other than pie for his birthday!

"I like chocolate cake better than pie," Gabriel replied with a shrug and laughed when his uncle faked a heart attack because of that blasphemy.

"Idjit," Bobby mumbled grumpily, even though the corners of his mouth were twitching traitorously. He did not point out that with the life Dean lived and with his age – he had turned forty that year, not that anyone was allowed to comment on that – he should stop joking about stuff like that. It was good to know that it was less than likely that Castiel would ever allow the older Winchester's heart to randomly give up on him, anyway.

"Boys will be boys," Jody shrugged before she added more seriously, "But don't you dare to ever use that as an excuse, if I catch you doing anything forbidden in my district."

Valerie chuckled when both Dean and Balthazar simultaneously raised their hands in defeat. She would be lying, if she said that there weren't some things in this family that seemed strange to her, but strangeness was something she could deal with.

Sam smiled and squeezed her hand under the table. Sometimes he seriously wondered what their family looked like to someone who hadn't grown into it over years and years, but he thought it was safe to say that it didn't look too bad.

* * *

_You know you're growing up in a hunter family when your lost baby teeth aren't collected by the tooth fairy, but are salted and burned to prevent anyone or anything to ever use them in some sort of spell against you._


	28. Chapter 28

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendencia, FireChildSlytherin5, Maddy Love Castiel, Keefer, CassXDeano, midnight0211, Pizzapig, Mello18, kb18142, CherylB1964, Avalonemyst and L. Greene for last chapter's reviews!

Alright, I have been desperately trying to keep ahead of my posted chapters to make sure I can stick to the one chapter every second day schedule I set for myself. As of today I am out of unposted chapters, though. I've been having a bit of a stressful and generally crappy time, so yeah... I hope to write like crazy over the weekend, but I can't promise. Sorry.**  
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**28**

_September 16th, 2019_

_I am not sure which one of us was more surprised when Castiel asked to have a brother-day with you without anyone else being present. I mean sure, Cas loves you and you love Cas, but it always seemed like he only felt comfortable around you as long as there was someone else there to give him clues about what to do. I think this might be a really great change, though. You sure as hell are very excited about it._

* * *

"Cas is picking me up soon!" Gabriel yelled and jumped into his father's bed, landing between the two formerly sleeping humans.

Sam groaned. He didn't even have to take a look at the clock to know that it was before six in the morning. He wouldn't have felt quite this unwilling to let go of sleep, otherwise. Of course, sleeping was more like a hobby to his son, though.

"Dad, Cas will come to pick me up soon!" Gabriel repeated, shaking his father slightly when he didn't get the desired reaction out of him as quickly as he wanted it.

The younger Winchester let his body go limp for a moment before he quickly gathered his strength and threw the blanket off himself with what could be best described as a mighty roar and trapped the kid under the comforter. The archangel squeaked in surprise before he began to kick and struggle, laughing.

"Some of us are still trying to sleep," Val mumbled, hardly peeking out from under her part of the blanket which she held in a vice like grip.

"Sorry, honey," Sam stated with a mischievous undertone that his girlfriend really didn't like to hear, "But now that you're awake already…"

Valerie didn't even get the time to wonder what exactly he was talking about – surely not what the first thing that had come to her mind had been, since Gabriel was still present, too – before the blanket was yanked away and two sets of hands were tickling her mercilessly. She would have been annoyed with them, if only a little, but it was damn hard to concentrate on glaring when you couldn't stop laughing to save your life.

"Are you awake now?" Gabriel asked, grinning from ear to ear when they finally let her breathe properly again. He was grabbed and squeezed tightly before he even fully realized what was happening, though.

Sam couldn't help thinking that it was quite lucky that both Gabe and Val enjoyed cuddling as much as they did. That way being in contact as frequently as the archangel wanted to be wasn't awkward for either one of them. Not to mention that Sam got his share of cuddles, too.

"I think I can go back to sleep like this," Val chuckled, resting her chin on top of the boy's nearly honey-colored mop of hair, still holding him tight.

"No," Gabriel protested, even though he didn't try to get out of her hold in any way, "I need to get ready for when Cas arrives!"

With those words the archangel started to wiggle and struggle until he managed to get free and jump off the bed again. He ran back to his room with the promise to get properly dressed and return afterward.

"Two more hours and we'll have the house for ourselves," Sam smirked, pulling the blonde woman into his arms. They had a couple of minutes until Gabriel decided what he wanted to wear, too.

Valerie made a contented noise and snuggled up against the younger Winchester some more before she mumbled, "Two hours until I can go back to sleep then."

In the end Gabriel came running back into the room before he was done with dressing himself, because his father was obviously tickling Val without him and he really couldn't have that.

* * *

"This is awesome!" the archangel yelled, basically jumping onto his brother's back wrapping his legs around his middle in his excitement, "Thank you, Cas. Thank you!"

The dark-haired angel had transported them to the closest amusement park and judged by his brother's reaction he had made a good choice. He had to admit that Dean had helped him with coming up with the idea, though.

"Let's go there first," the boy suggested, pointing toward the ferris wheel while holding on to Castiel's shoulders with his other hand, "No there, no there, no wait… I want cotton candy!"

They could go on all the rides and try all the games, but there was only so much he could eat at once, so he would have to plan his snack intake in between. Besides, seeing the vendor had given him an intense craving for sugar!

"As you wish," Castiel agreed easily and walked toward the salesperson basically as if he wasn't carrying a nine year old on his back. Dean had also reminded him to take enough money luckily.

By the time they made it to the carousel Gabriel had chosen as the first attraction they would try out, the dark-haired angel had been forced to try some of the cotton candy and found it to be mostly sticky and sweet like most of the things his little brother liked to feed him. Thinking about it, those were also the qualities of most of the things Dean made him ingest.

"You gotta go, too!" the archangel insisted when it looked like his brother only wanted to watch him go on the ride. That wasn't how they were going to spend that day, however! Gabriel knew what he wanted and he knew that in the end Castiel never said no to him. The boy was also sure that his brother was going to enjoy himself. Everybody loved chairoplanes! Okay, the dark-haired angel wasn't cheering like he was, but Gabriel saw beyond the tiny smile that graced his brother's lips after they got off the carousel again.

"This sort of attraction seems to cause a reduction of orbital stability," Castiel commented, as if he was trying to make a scientific observation.

"That's strange. I just feel dizzy," the archangel replied with a frown, leaning against his brother. Of course, feeling dizzy didn't keep him from eying the food booths they were closest to. "I want a hot dog!"

After their second snack break Gabriel led them straight to a ring tossing game. He had seen the pink unicorns they were giving away there and he wanted to get one of those for Sophie. He would hopefully find something to win to give to Toshio later on.

The carny handed five rings to the boy with a slightly too big grin and told him he'd have to get two rings over the bright red pole in the middle to win one of the unicorns. It was quite obvious that he didn't think that Gabriel had a chance. The man's jaw nearly hung open when the boy nodded seriously, aimed and managed to get the first two rings he tossed over the pole he needed.

"Do you want to win something for uncle Dean?" the archangel asked his brother, offering the remaining three rings to him, before he turned back to the carny and gave him a hopeful look, "I can have my unicorn already, can't I mister?"

The man nodded, still a little flabbergasted and handed one of the pink plushies to the boy.

It took Castiel a while to even figure out what he should try to win for the older Winchester – he even asked for the showman's opinion on what a hunter would like – before he decided to go for a toy sword and a zombie plushy.

"Are you guys practicing this at home or something?" the carny asked, handing the prices over.

"We're Winchesters," Gabriel stated in the way of explanation and dragged his brother off toward the rollercoaster and the booth with the caramel apples. It really was a good thing that Castiel could send the things they had just won back to Gabriel's room with a thought, so they didn't have to carry them around the entire time.

"Cas, Cas, look! Whack-a-mole!" the archangel yelled excitedly after he had spotted one of those games that always amused him. His brother only watched him play for a while, tilting his head as if he was in deep thought until Gabriel gave the sleeve of his coat a pull and mimicked the confused expression. It was a clear enough demand to know what that look was about.

"I thought whacking a mole was something else entirely," Castiel admitted which didn't exactly explain anything to his brother.

"What else would it be?" Gabriel asked with a deep frown, trying to come up with the answer himself, but failing miserably. Whacking a mole was whacking a fake mole with a hammer and that was it.

"It's one of those euphemisms Dean uses for rather sinful things," the dark-haired angel replied matter-of-factly. Maybe he didn't understand it completely, but he was rather lucky that his brother's mind was much too innocent to realize what exactly he had just talked about.

"They have ninja plushies!" Gabriel yelled a moment later, pointing toward the high striker excitedly. That would be so perfect for Toshio! Unfortunately, they didn't have the variety for kids the archangel had played before, though. Then again, his dad was really good at that game and Cas was an adult too, hence he had to be good, as well.

"We want to win one of the ninjas," the boy explained to the carny, dragging his brother behind himself. He had to wait a few moments until Cas had paid for his try at the game and the man had stopped smirking and finally handed the big hammer over.

The dark-haired angel looked completely unimpressed and simply took the hammer from the other man with a short, acknowledging nod, swinging it without further ado. He didn't even take a full swing, only lifting the hammer up to about shoulder level before he let it drop again, but still got the high score and another one of those baffled looks from the human he didn't quite understand.

"Wait a second," the carny cleared his throat after handing the requested ninja plushy over, "Just… one more time. It's on the house."

Castiel frowned, but took the hammer again and hit the lever one more time. He, of course, wasn't surprised that the result was exactly the same as before, but the human seemed to be. The man was already reaching for another ninja plushy when Cas stopped him with a gesture. "I would like one of those monkeys."

As soon as the two angelic brothers were walking away the carny tried and failed to recreate what he had just seen. After about ten unsuccessful tries he came to the conclusion that at least it was highly unlikely that his equipment was faulty.

It wasn't long until Gabriel found a booth that sold chocolate covered fruits and after that spotted the next ride he absolutely wanted to be on. The teacup carousel was colorful and looked all too funny, after all.

"Where are the gigantic cookies or muffins?" the archangel asked. The thought had hit him as soon as they had taken their seats and it wouldn't leave him alone. It would be too awesome, if there were giant cookies and muffins to sit on or in, too. It would be even more awesome, if they were edible, of course.

"The lack of pastries is disturbing," Cas agreed with a nod and a slight grin. He was surprised when his brother wrapped his arms around him and squeezed him tightly directly after he had said those words, however.

"You're awesome, Cas. I love you," Gabriel stated, still hugging his brother and with no intention to let go until the ride was over. He might not spend as much time alone with Castiel as he did with the other members of his family and sometimes he really didn't understand what his brother was talking about, but he loved him just as much as Balthazar or his uncle.

The dark-haired angel smiled and hugged the archangel back just as tightly. "I love you too, brother."

* * *

"Where's the misses?" Dean asked after Sam had gotten him a beer from the fridge.

"Some people have regular jobs they have to get to," the younger Winchester replied with a slight shrug. Alright, Val's work at the hotel's reception desk didn't exactly have the ordinary nine to five working hours, but she still had to go there regularly. Sometimes Sam thought that he actually would have liked to try and take on a job himself, but usually Gabriel distracted him from that sort of thought before he could linger on it for longer than a few moments. That was one thing he would have to put off until the archangel was ready to either join school or spend hours at a time on his own, whatever happened first.

"We can't all be some douchebag angel's welfare case," Dean smirked and took a swig of his drink before he added more seriously, "Doesn't she ever wonder how your life works?"

Sam shrugged, it wasn't a careless shrug, however. He had to admit that he was lucky in that respect. Valerie generally let him choose what he wanted to tell her. At the same time he couldn't help noticing that she wanted to know more than he could share without going into details that wouldn't fit the picture of the more or less ordinary single dad he was trying to obtain.

"She doesn't ask many questions and I try not to lie too much," the younger Winchester finally replied with a sigh. Things between them worked pretty well like this for the moment being, it was doubtful that it would work on a longer term, though.

"That's a stable foundation for a relationship," Dean stated, patting his brother's back. He wasn't even completely sarcastic about it, either.

They didn't get to discuss the matter any further before the flutter of wings announced the return of the two angels, however.

"You're back earlier than expected," Sam pointed out with a slight frown. He hoped that the two brothers hadn't gotten into an argument or that Gabriel had demanded to go home, because Castiel had bored him or anything like that.

"An incident in the haunted house cut our trip short," the dark-haired angel explained matter-of-factly. His little brother just nodded along and ran to hug his uncle and his father tight before he added, "I smote a plastic ghost!"

The stupid thing shouldn't have scared the boy as much as it had! Besides, it wasn't like anybody had been hurt. The people closest to them had even thought that it had been a rather neat trick. They still had decided to take their leave before any of the owners showed up and caused a scene.

"We won lots of stuff," Gabriel said proudly, willing the things they had won at the various games they had played from his room to the couch table.

Castiel took the opportunity to take the zombie and the plastic sword he had won for Dean and handed them to the older Winchester unceremoniously. The gesture should speak for itself.

"Thanks Cas," Dean stated a little awkwardly. Taking the gifts a gleeful smile appeared on his face as he held the plushy up. "I will name this one Sam. Totally looks like you with a hangover, dude!"

The younger Winchester was just about to give a fitting reply to that when Castiel looked at his own monkey plushy with a very thoughtful expression. "I shall name this one Dean then."

* * *

_I love Cas' sense of humor._


	29. Chapter 29

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendencia, FireChildSlytherin5, Nyx Ro, L. Greene, CassXDeano, Mello18, Maddy Love Castiel, Keefer, Miahbug, CherylB1964, kb18142, Pizzapig, Avalonemyst, keacdragon, Amethyst Violet Serenity and one guest for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

* * *

**29**

_May 8th, 2020_

_Life sucks sometimes and being a Winchester sucks sometimes, too. I'm sorry you had to find out both those things today, Gabe._

* * *

How did you tell someone that you used to hunt monsters for a living before you became Lucifer's vessel, jumped into hell and got resurrected by God personally alongside the archangel Gabriel whom you adopted as your son? Sam had to admit that he really didn't have an answer to that question and that was the main reason why he hadn't told Valerie anything about his life before Gabriel had become a part of it and was only giving evasive answers as soon as a topic that would force him to spin a big net of lies came up.

He didn't talk about what exactly Dean and Castiel were getting up to all the time. It was quite possible that Val had her own theories about that, anyway. She might not be that far off, either. He didn't mention Balthazar more often than necessary, because the blonde angel wasn't exactly screaming 'perfectly normal' with everything he did. To make it short, there were more things that Sam didn't say than those he did.

It wouldn't have been too bad – they definitely were a good couple and very much in love with each other – if the younger Winchester hadn't wished that he could just open up and tell her all these things as much as he did. It was mostly fear of her reaction that kept him from just going for it. Fear of her reaction and the very strong need to keep Gabriel and his secret safe under any circumstances.

What Sam didn't know was that his son was thinking about their situation a lot, too. The boy knew that honesty was very important for a working relationship. Both Toshio and Sophie had been adamant about that, too. They both had their tales of how their parents had the worst arguments when one found out that the other had been keeping secrets about anything.

Gabriel had considered that information for quite some time and had come to the conclusion that always being honest was very important. At least, being honest with people who meant a lot to you was. If you couldn't be completely honest, like he couldn't with his two best friends, you had to make sure to hide every evidence of there even being a secret away well enough that the other person never found out. In the case of his two friends hiding away that there even was a secret worked well enough and the archangel understood that it was better not to tell them, at least not yet. As far as Val was concerned however, Gabriel didn't think that hiding things from her was working out that well. He noticed that his father wasn't completely happy with it anyway and his father's happiness was very important to the boy.

"I want to show you something," the archangel announced seriously, jumping off the couch to better look the blonde woman in the eyes.

Sam was preparing dinner and the two of them had been sitting on the couch watching a show about dolphins. The atmosphere was relaxed and Val had that small smile on her lips that was always present when she was having an awesome day. It probably was now or never and never wasn't really an option!

"Okay," Valerie replied, turning the TV off and giving her full attention to the boy instead.

Gabriel nodded and reached out with his grace – Castiel and Balthazar had taught him that that was the right word to describe that thing that made him feel all tingly when he used it – to make his wings appear for everyone to see. He could have done a million other things to demonstrate what he was getting at, but this was the one that should also answer the question what exactly he was immediately. With the big white wings on his back the boy looked like every other depiction of an angel, after all.

Val reached out slowly, but quickly pulled her hand back when the wings bent toward her fingers. A part of her had wanted to believe that this was like a magic trick. Hell, Gabriel's uncles got him stuff from all over the world, they might have found something like that somewhere. The way the wings clearly moved in sync with the boy and even seemed to have something like a mind of their own spoke for something else entirely though, no matter how unbelievable that was.

She knew that the boy was waiting for her to say something, most likely something like 'That's cool!', but she couldn't find her voice. It was quite possible that she would have said something stupid, anyway. Then again, what did you say when the son of your boyfriend suddenly sprouted wings?

"Dad loves you and I don't want him to have secrets all the time," Gabriel tried to explain, even though his voice sounded horribly unsure, already.

Valerie nodded slightly, still trying and failing to get her composure back. How the hell was she supposed to stay completely calm and just take everything in a stride under the circumstances, however? Okay, looking at everything she had seen of the family, she had known that they weren't completely normal. She had had some theories about them of course, including a rather strange one about Dean and Castiel being hitmen for some mafia family, but who would have thought of something like this? Whatever this exactly was, in the end.

Sam didn't even get to announce that dinner was prepared before he already knew that something was wrong. A moment later he saw what exactly that was, too. He looked at his son in surprise for a second and then turned his attention to the suspiciously silent woman on the couch who looked like she really wanted to be anywhere but here, that very moment.

"Val," the younger Winchester stated in a soft tone, trying to be reassuring for his girlfriend and his son. They both looked completely freaked out at this point, after all.

The blonde woman really wasn't proud of herself when she just shook her head and got up. She even hated herself a little for the small spark of doubt in her mind that kept telling her that chances were she wouldn't be allowed to leave. She had definitely seen too much at this point. Like she really expected the two people she had grown to love the most in the entire world over nearly two years to hurt her in any way.

"I'm sorry, I can't…" she mumbled, unable to finish the sentence, because she simply didn't know where she had been going with it in the first place. She couldn't think that very moment, that was for sure. Valerie also knew that she had to get out of there as quickly as possible.

The younger Winchester didn't stop her when she left the house. He had other things to care about. The moment Val had taken her leave Gabriel had given his father a short look that spoke volumes about how much he thought he had screwed up and had zapped himself away. Sam could only hope that he had disappeared into his own room, otherwise he would have to contact Castiel or Balthazar to help him find the kid immediately.

The younger Winchester forced himself to open his son's bedroom door slowly, as to not spook the boy any further.

He sighed relieved when he saw that Gabriel was indeed lying face down on his bed, sobbing into the pillow. They could deal with this as long as they were sticking together, as long as the boy didn't end up fleeing to Australia, thinking that he had disappointed or upset his father. Sam could put his own hurt feelings aside, he could try not to let everything that had happened sink in just yet and just be there for the archangel, but he couldn't have dealt with the boy running away from him.

"Hey buddy," the younger Winchester said in a gentle tone, putting a hand on his son's back, rubbing soothing circles. Gabriel's actions might have been stupid or reckless, depending on what his reasoning behind them had been, but he clearly was in need of comfort and support and it was tugging on all of Sam's heartstrings.

The archangel didn't react for a few long moments. When he finally turned his head to look at his father, his eyes were red and tears were still rolling over his cheeks.

"C'mere," the younger Winchester suggested softly, holding his arms open in an invitation for some serious cuddling. The boy clearly needed it and, to be honest, Sam did, too.

Gabriel was desperately trying to be a big boy and stop crying, but he knew that he had messed up and he could feel all too clearly that he had made his father sad, even if he tried not to show it. That the adult was holding him tight while making silent promises that everything was okay made him feel a little better, but he knew that this was very far from okay, all the same.

"I didn't want you to have to lie because of me anymore," the archangel whispered a few minutes later, "I'm sorry for being a freak."

Sam immediately tightened his grip on the boy and hugged him tighter. That was one of those things he really wished he would never have to hear out of his son's mouth. Now that it had happened, they would have to deal with it.

"You're not a freak and I don't want you to ever even think of yourself like that again," the younger Winchester stated resolutely, "You're an angel and you're a Winchester, but most of all you are perfect exactly the way you are!"

Gabriel wrapped his arms around his father's neck more firmly and nodded against his collarbone. He knew all that, he really did. Nobody in his family had ever made him feel like he was anything but great. It just was very hard to believe that nothing was wrong with him when one look at who he really was made someone he had trusted and liked a lot walk out on them.

"You okay?" Sam asked after giving the boy a little more time to calm down. He felt the archangel nod against his shoulder again which was something. It wasn't all too reassuring, though.

"Mhm, I don't think you are," the younger Winchester remarked thoughtfully, brushing some of Gabriel's hair away from his forehead gently, "Remember, Gabe? I'll always love and protect you and you'll never have to feel alone again and you can tell me everything."

Hell, the archangel better remembered that line. Sam couldn't even estimate how many times he had had to read the story of the little angel to his son over the years and Gabriel had paid rapt attention every time, as if he hadn't heard it a million times before.

"I wanted Val to be my mom," the archangel admitted, cuddling up to his father a little more.

The younger Winchester didn't know what to say to that. It was nothing new that Gabriel thought much further ahead than he did most of the time. Sam hadn't thought about where the relationship was going all that much, to tell the truth. His son obviously had.

"I don't know what will happen, but I know we'll be okay," the younger Winchester replied in the end, smiling slightly, "We're Winchesters and that means that sometimes we have bad luck that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, but it also means that we always come out the other side okay."

At least, the past few years things had always worked out for them like that. Before that 'more or less okay' would have been the truthful way to say it, not that Sam would have been too tempted to plant more negative thoughts into his son's head than were there that very moment, anyway.

"But you were so happy," Gabriel pouted slightly, because he actually didn't want to be let off the hook this easily. He had done something wrong and he didn't think he deserved to be treated as if he hadn't.

"I have been very happy ever since you came into my life, Gabe. You don't have to worry about me," the younger Winchester said seriously, cuddling the archangel some more, "And I think we should give Val the chance to think everything through before we write her off."

Sam wouldn't dare to even estimate how high the chances that Valerie would calm down and come to the conclusion that she could deal with all this were, but it wouldn't be fair to judge her only by her first reaction to a very surprising revelation.

Gabriel nodded again. "But it's my fault that she ran away."

Everyone had always told him not to show his powers to anyone outside of the family, because they might not be ready for the truth. The archangel had always respected their wishes, but he had never really understood why they were so worried. Now he did and it sucked out loud!

"You made a decision," the younger Winchester replied, looking into his son's golden-brown eyes, "And now you don't like the consequences. That's a part of life, buddy."

The archangel had just been unlucky enough that he had had to learn that life-lesson about something big that had been very important to him. Sam couldn't help thinking that he could have prevented all of this, if only he had had the courage to talk to Valerie about all the secrets he had been keeping from her himself. At the same time, he knew that he couldn't keep every hurtful experience away from his son and that dealing with the fallout was at least as important as prevention.

"It sucks," Gabriel mumbled. He thought he understood what his father had been trying to tell him, but that didn't exactly make anything that had happened any better.

"Mhm," Sam agreed, "But it doesn't always suck. I decided to be your dad and that was the best decision of my life."

The archangel considered that for a few moments in silence before he came to a conclusion that saved his father from having to tell him that very thing as soon as the boy would have calmed down enough to listen. "Next time I'll ask you first."

* * *

_It's been a while since you wanted to sleep in my bed, but I get why it's important to you today. Let me say that you and Cookie are always hogging the blanket, though._


	30. Chapter 30

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendencia, Impala67-Ilana, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, L. Greene, Hesta101, SARA1988, Mello18, Keefer, musicfiend2392, Avalonemyst, Nyx Ro, kb18142, starshaker, Pizzapig and CherylB1964 for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

This has been crazy hard to write and I'm quite nervous about how it turned out... Oh well, I guess you guys will let me know :-)

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**30**

_May 13th, 2020_

_We haven't seen Valerie in five days now. I can tell it bothers you to no end, but I don't know what to do about it. I am not sure going to her would be a good idea at this point. I'm not even sure I could. I miss her too, Gabe._

* * *

One of the simplest and most harmless ways for Gabriel to play with his powers was building more or less elaborate figures out of sand in his sandbox. With just a little concentration he could make the sand get into shape by itself or make it stick together in exactly the way he wanted it to, if he felt like forming the sculptures himself.

That day he was attempting to build a Cookie doppelganger out of sand. Sam had taken both his son and their dog on a morning jog to make sure that the husky would be up to posing for quite some time afterward. Gabriel wasn't too fond of all the running, but every now and then he could be convinced – most of the time the younger Winchester went on his own when his son was with somebody else – and those past few days he had been rather subdued and willing to do anything Sam suggested, anyway.

"Looking good," the younger Winchester commented with a smile, looking at the half finished sand sculpture, "Does the artist want some lemonade?"

Gabriel didn't even look at his father as he nodded. His tongue was poking out slightly in concentration as he tried to figure out how to go about getting Cookie's head right. Thinking about it, he should have asked the husky to put his head down onto his front paws as he was lying in the grass. That would have made everything much easier. Now he had to find a way to build Cookie's head in the air, looking straight ahead.

All thoughts of his little project were forgotten as soon as Val stepped into the garden and waved toward him sheepishly. Cookie gave a short howl when his little owner jumped out of the sandbox, leaving the sand sculpture to collapse behind him as he stopped concentrating on it.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Gabriel repeated over and over, hugging the blonde woman tight. He didn't want her to go again. They had to find a way to make this work again, like it had before he had made that decision that he regretted like nothing else he had ever done.

"It's okay, Gabe. It's okay," Valerie replied, crouching down so she could wrap her arms around him better. They stayed like that for a few long moments before she spoke on, "You did nothing wrong. I just didn't get it."

Once she had been back at her apartment and had been able to think everything through she had realized what the boy had been trying to tell her. There was a big secret and he hadn't wanted her to be left out, he had wanted his father to be able to tell her the truth.

"I missed you," Val whispered, pressing her lips against the side of the archangel's head for a moment before she looked up and saw Sam standing there, looking at them, "I missed you both."

"Let's go inside to talk," the younger Winchester suggested after he had gotten over the first surprise. They still had to figure out where they all stood to each other now. Sam knew what he wished the answer to that would be, but this wasn't up to him alone. At least, it seemed that Gabriel had his friend back and that was good to see.

A minute later they were all sitting in the living room. Even Cookie had followed them inside. He was showing the blonde woman the cold shoulder, though. The husky knew that the bad mood of the past few days had been caused by her in some way, so he chose to be annoyed for the moment being.

"I'm sorry," Valerie apologized with a deep sigh, "I shouldn't have walked out on you like I did. As soon as I got home I wished I hadn't left."

Of course, by the time she had realized what had happened and what she had done it had been too late to just go back. The damage had been done and she simply hadn't known how to return without messing everything up even more in the process. The longer she had thought about it, the worse she had felt about everything.

"I get that we have a lot to talk about now, but I want to say that I love you both and I want to be a part of this family," Val spoke on quickly, trying to read both Sam's and Gabriel's expressions to see how they were taking her words, "If you'll have me."

Gabriel's grin could have lit up a football stadium and he jumped up to hug the woman again. This was exactly what he had wanted those past few days and it looked like he was getting it!

Sam's smile didn't quite reach the eyes. He nodded slightly and put his hand on his son's shoulder to get the boy's attention. "Could you leave us alone for a little while?"

The archangel looked at his father suspiciously, but walked back toward the garden, gesturing for Cookie to come with him, anyway. "You'll better still be here later!"

Val nodded seriously. No more leaving without saying goodbye, even if she wasn't completely sure what would happen once Sam got the chance to openly speak his mind.

"You hurt him a lot," the younger Winchester pointed out as soon as he was sure that Gabriel had really gone back to his sandbox. As much as he wanted to say that everything was forgiven and forgotten without making a big deal out of it he couldn't. They had to sort things out once and for all here.

"I know," the blonde woman admitted quietly, "And I know I hurt you, too."

Even if Sam didn't want to admit it, that was a part of it, as well. He had had to watch the first woman he had loved in a very long time walk out on them, breaking Gabriel's heart in the process. The younger Winchester had had to pick up the pieces and try to stay somewhat positive for the sake of his kid. He wasn't quite ready to admit that he had had a hard time too, though. "That's not the point."

"It should be," Valerie insisted "Sam, this is about us as a couple, too."

"Five days, Val," the younger Winchester finally sighed. Maybe, if she had come back or contacted them sooner, he would have found it easier to write her leaving off as a momentary lapse in judgment.

"I just didn't know what to do," the blonde woman tried to explain, "I… Sure, I realized that some things were strange about your life, but I wasn't prepared for something like this. I probably didn't handle the big reveal all too well, I don't want to deny that."

Val realized that holding back on the questions, thinking that she would be able to deal with everything whenever it came up had been a big mistake. Something had come up and it had been too much for her to handle on the spot. She had had five days to think everything through and prepare herself for hearing a lot of things she didn't expect and would have never expected, so she was pretty sure that whatever Sam would dish out now wouldn't have the same effect on her.

"How can you say you want back to us when you still don't know what you're getting into?" the younger Winchester asked, looking into her eyes. What Gabriel had shown her only was a very small part of the entire story, so Sam felt quite justified in his doubts.

"Oh, I have a million questions I want answers for and I am determined to ask them this time," she replied seriously. Of course, the big question that hadn't been answered yet was if they would even try to make this work again. Val was quite willing to, but that didn't mean that Sam was. Right now it looked like he wasn't all that sure about it.

"I am serious, Sam," Valerie added with a sigh, "I want to be a part of this family, I want… I want what Gabriel wanted. No more… half-truths. I want you to be honest with me and I want to be able to believe that you won't keep crucial information from me in the future."

The younger Winchester needed a moment until her words sunk fully in. He had to acknowledge that she was right, though. He had made grave mistakes as well and he had been rather hard on her, ignoring that they actually shared the blame.

"I should have told you," he admitted, looking at her apologetically, "I should have told you a long time ago and for that I'm really sorry."

"Then tell me now," Valerie suggested, moving closer to Sam and putting her hand on his knee, "I can't promise I won't freak out, but I won't run again."

* * *

Gabriel had his arms wrapped around Cookie's neck as the two of them were lying on the lawn, looking toward the house. It was highly unlikely that anything dramatic would happen, but the adults had to come outside eventually and the archangel didn't want to miss that. They were going to talk about everything and then they would come outside together and they would all be happy again, Gabriel was sure.

The husky huffed loudly and turned his head sideways to look at his little owner.

"Oh shut up, you liked her five days ago!" the archangel told his dog with a snort.

Cookie made a few noises at the back of his throat and licked over the boy's cheek once. He only didn't want everyone to be hurt again. In the husky's world forgiveness had taken a backseat to making sure that nobody could do any damage to him or his loved ones a while ago.

"Everybody makes mistakes sometimes," Gabriel lectured, "Daddy doesn't throw us out when we do stupid things! You tried to bite uncle Dean and everyone forgave you!"

Granted, it had been a misunderstanding between the older Winchester and the husky. The adult had played a game with his nephew and the archangel had tried to cheat just to see what would happen. Dean had acted like he was really mad at him and had tickled him until he was in tears and begging for him to stop. At that point Cookie had no longer thought that they were just fooling around and had nearly bitten the older Winchester's leg.

The husky obviously didn't quite see how that compared to what Valerie had done, because he had only tried to protect his owner.

"I know," Gabriel agreed, petting his dog's head, "You are great like that. Uncle Dean's face was too funny, anyway."

If Cookie could have grinned, he would have. He had learned that his reaction had been wrong, but that didn't mean that he didn't secretly enjoy that the cocky human was slightly less cocky around him these days.

"Be nice," the archangel whispered to the dog when his father came outside to gesture for them to come back in, "I want her to stay!"

The husky huffed again, but went after his owner willingly. He knew that he didn't have to love the people Gabriel did to make him happy. The kid settled for him being civil around them and that Cookie could do.

"I thought you might want to tell her a few things, too," Sam stated with a small smile, putting his hand on his son's shoulder reassuringly. Things weren't going bad, that much he could say. He had told Val some things about angels and especially the angels in their family this far and that seemed like a good point to let the archangel speak for himself, if he wanted to. The younger Winchester had promised himself to tell her at least all the basics about his past before the day was over, but they had to start somewhere and angels were the supernatural beings he had the most contact with these days.

Gabriel nodded seriously before a thought crossed his mind and he ran toward his room yelling a quick "be right back!" over his shoulder. When he returned a minute later he had one of the few pictures books he still stored next to his bed under his arm.

"It's about me," the archangel explained to Val, handing the book to her, so she could take a look at it, "Balthazar made it for me."

Sam watched silently as his son was explaining things, adding bits and pieces he had heard about himself over the years. He really had to give Val credit for looking nothing but interested.

"Does that mean I should be praying to you at bedtime?" the woman asked once they had gone through the story. The things Sam had told her beforehand had somewhat prepared her for this, but that didn't mean it was any less strange to sit next to an archangel on the couch. At the same time that angel was still the same kid she had taken into her heart a long time ago, however.

Gabriel grinned widely but shook his head, "I wouldn't hear it. Balthazar is listening to the prayers for me."

"I see, he's like your secretary then," Val concluded. She wasn't quite sure why this made Sam chuckle like it did, but it was good to hear, anyway.

"No," the archangel giggled, stretching the word to the extreme, "He's my brother and my underling!"

"Who told you that?" the younger Winchester asked with a raised eyebrow. That was one thing he hadn't heard before and it was highly unlikely that Balthazar had said something like that. It might be technically true, but the blonde angel probably wouldn't be the one to admit that his baby brother was currently the highest ranking angel and could boss him around.

"Uncle Dean," Gabriel shrugged, "He says I'm the big hotshot and Balthazar is a self-important little pipsqueak and I should command him to kick his own butt real hard or something."

Of course, the older Winchester had been seriously annoyed with Balthazar at the time he had made that suggestion, so it was doubtful that it was to be taken serious. As far as the archangel knew, his brother had given a book – something about Karma with lots of pictures in it – to Castiel which had for some reason irritated Dean.

"Still hard to believe I've met three angels," Val commented with a crooked smile, shaking her head slightly. She'd probably take quite some time to really let that sink in. Coming to terms with all those things surely was a big task, but it didn't seem completely impossible, at least.

"And the king of hell," Gabriel added helpfully, noticing that she didn't look like she knew what he had just talked about, "Crowley."

Sam didn't think he fully deserved the short glare that was thrown his way after that revelation, but at the same time he could understand where it was coming from. They probably had a very long talk in front of them.

* * *

_What can I say? It took half the night, but I've come completely clean. Val knows everything there is to know about us now. We'll make this work Gabe, we will._


	31. Chapter 31

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Tendencia, Maddy Love Castiel, Hesta101, Avalonemyst, kb18142, Keefer, Nyx Ro, starshaker, Pizzapig, FireChildSlytherin5, L. Greene, CassXDeano and CherylB1964 for last chapter's reviews!

I am sad to admit that the last chapter didn't completely turn out as I wanted it to and even sadder to say that I can't do better right now... there's a lot of things going on and I'm pretty sure you're all not interested in that, anyway.

Bottom line: I'll carry on with this story how I planned to and might go back to re-write the last chapter as soon as I feel I can.**  
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**31**

_June 6th, 2020_

_It's barbecue time! Cookie sure hates the bunch of people around, even if they all belong to our family, but he loves the snacks you are handing him under the table just as much. _

* * *

Frankly, it was astonishing how a little bit of knowledge could change the way you looked at people and the world as a whole. Suddenly, the bunch of slightly strange but all in all great people you had known for years became a bunch of slightly strange but all in all great angels and hunters of the supernatural. Reminding herself over and over again that they all basically were the same people she had known before helped Valerie with dealing with the entire situation, though. Actually, some things about them made so much more sense now that she knew who or what they really were.

"What do you want to eat?" Gabriel's voice broke through her silent contemplations, "Uncle Dean says most of the food is nearly done."

The archangel had just come back from helping his father with the salads and had noticed that the blonde woman was sitting by herself, seemingly deep in thought.

"Whatever you are having is fine with me," Val replied, smiling. The boy had a damn good taste in all things edible, so she could be sure that whatever he was going to bring back would be good.

"A bit of everything then," the archangel decided with a grin and took off toward his uncle and dark-haired brother, throwing a look back over his shoulder to see, if Valerie had gone back to her brooding, but it didn't look like she had.

The older Winchester had insisted that his younger brother might be better in the kitchen – no surprise there – but when it was about something inherently manly like manning the grill Sam was about four years short of experience. Of course, in four years time he would still be four years short of experience. Some things just never changed.

"Alright, Cas. Show me what you learned," Dean stated, stepping aside slightly waving the barbecue tongs over the grill, looking at the angel expectantly.

"The steak should be turned over," Castiel observed, looking at the food with enough concentration to make the older Winchester smile fondly. He obviously was taking this very seriously, just like basically everything else.

"Spot on, dude," Dean remarked, doing as Cas has just suggested.

"The hamburgers seem to be ready," the angel went on with a smile, obviously enjoying the praise he had just received and smiling a little more when the other man nodded his consent to what he had said again.

Dean was rather satisfied with the progress he had made in the angel's education that day. Sure, he had had years and years to show Cas just how life on Earth and among humans worked, but it often seemed like there was an endless list of things they still had to work on. Oh well, it wasn't like Dean would get tired of sharing his own favorite things with the angel.

The older Winchester took the hamburger patties off the grill and put them on a plate, grabbing a bottle of beer while he was at it. It was a warm day and he had been standing close to the fire for quite some time, after all.

"You might want to rearrange the wieners," Castiel commented just as Dean was taking a swig which immediately made the human cough, hitting his own chest with his fist to breathe better again.

The angel wasn't sure what had caused that reaction in the human. He had merely tried to point out that the sausages in the middle of the grill were nearly ready while those closer to the edge weren't. It had seemed like the logical conclusion that rearranging them would make sure that they all got done.

Things weren't getting better when Balthazar walked up to the pair and casually commented, "Pretty sure Dean-o is the right person for that job."

Castiel knew that he was missing something here, but that didn't keep him from saying, "Of course he is. Dean is in possession of the right equipment to handle these things."

The older Winchester really wanted to tell both angels to shut it and possibly fuck off, though the latter would only be directed at Balthazar, but he was still coughing and found it hard to even stand straight, let alone bark orders. It wasn't quite easy to get his windpipe to relax and let him breathe properly again, with the two angels as determined as they obviously were to carry on with their little discussion.

"Well, you better put your equipment to good use then," Balthazar smirked, "Looks like your wiener's burning."

The dark-haired angel frowned at his brother, "I thought they looked too pale. Nobody likes a pale wiener."

As far as he knew, sausages that weren't boiled but were fried or grilled were supposed to take on a darker color and from the few times the older Winchester has talked him into trying hotdogs and things like that he could safely say that he preferred the grilled variation. Cas clearly had his eyes on the burgers, however. Sausages didn't interest him much when there were hamburgers available. The angel didn't even know how lucky he was that he hadn't voiced that thought.

"Oh? Is that Dean's preference or your own?" Balthazar wanted to know in the best innocent tone he could muster up. His brother had learned quite a lot about sarcasm and snarking over the years, so he had to be more careful not to give away that he was actually just messing with him than he would have had to be some time ago.

"It is a matter we both agree on," Castiel answered, reaching over and letting just a bit of his grace flow over to the still coughing and wheezing human. The older Winchester had made it perfectly clear that he didn't appreciate it too much when Cas used his angel mojo on him without consulting him on the matter first, but since he seemed unable to form words Castiel was assuming that this was one of the exceptions to the rule.

"Wonderful," the blonde angel stated seriously, even though the corners of his mouth were twitching traitorously, "There's nothing worse than wiener related disagreements between… roommates."

"Stop talking about wieners already!" Dean finally managed to yell which made sure that he had the attention of everyone in the garden and probably of a few of the neighbors, too. He groaned and took the sausages off the grill to make sure that the stupid conversation was over. He noticed with grim satisfaction that they looked burned on the one side and indeed too pale on the other. That way at least nobody would be happy!

"Did you just make dirty jokes?" Gabriel asked his blonde brother a moment later. He had been standing there for most of the conversation, after all. It had been hard to miss that something was going on and when his uncle got annoyed like that it was safe to say that it had been about something sexual.

"Yes, indeed," Balthazar confirmed without batting an eye, putting his hand on his little brother's shoulder amicably, "We can't hide anything from you."

The archangel might not really understand what these sort of talks were really about most of the time, but the way a few of the others, especially his father and Jody, had kept pointing out that they should stop talking about stuff like that while Gabriel was listening in the past sure had helped him with figuring out that they were talking about sex-stuff.

"I don't get it," Gabriel admitted with a shrug.

He had a vague understanding of what they might have been talking about, but he couldn't honestly say that he knew what the joke had been. The archangel had still thought that the scene between his two brothers and his uncle had been all too funny, though.

"I could tell you, brother," the blonde angel replied in a nearly apologetic tone, "But your father would kill me."

"That's quite possible," Gabriel agreed with a serious nod and they all didn't want that to happen, so he would probably have to wait for the explanation for another while. Well, he could always discuss these things with Toshio and Sophie in the meantime. The three of them had way more fun trying to figure out what the hell those adult topics really were about than they would have with just getting the answers, anyway.

* * *

It was a while after they all had finished eating that Val found herself alone at the table again. Sam and Jody had gone inside to prepare the coffee and cake and Gabriel had managed to convince Dean and Castiel to play soccer with him while Bobby watched and commented ever so often. Most of the time those comments boiled down to 'You're getting too old for this, boy' while the older Winchester's answers were a repetition of 'You're still old enough to be my father'.

Balthazar had managed to avoid being in the game which suited him just fine for two reasons. First of all he was pretty sure that Dean would have tried everything to hit him in the head with the ball and second he had waited for a chance to have a serious talk with the blonde woman all day long.

"Do you know how Gabriel selects his friends?" Balthazar asked in a conversational tone, sitting down next to Valerie, "It took me a long time to figure out, but I finally got to the bottom of it."

Val looked at the angel with a slightly confused expression, but she was curious to hear what he had to say, so she just shook her head and waited for him to continue.

"Of all the abused dogs, why Cookie? Of all the lonely children, why Toshio and Sophie?" Balthazar lamented, drawing this out a little for effect, "Because he doesn't only see the good souls of people – he'd have a million more friends, if it were as simple as that. Gabriel sees potential. The potential to fit in with his life and family perfectly. The potential to be great, or - as he would say it - awesome."

The blonde angel didn't know what exactly Gabriel saw. His little brother still was an archangel and so his perception just worked differently to that of the other angels, but Balthazar had collected bits and pieces of information wherever he could get them and had put a convincing theory together.

"Let's just say you didn't live up to the expectations," the angel added coolly, "And I'm not convinced you will at your second chance."

Val's face fell slightly, but she tried to put a smile back on her face immediately, "Story of my life."

Living up to expectations and using the potential others seemed to see in her were two things she seemed to fail at more often than not. Her parents had basically disowned her years ago for being an underachiever and just one step up from a complete failure in their eyes. Of course, the two of them were career obsessed workaholics who had expected nothing short of perfection from their only child.

"I know," Balthazar replied with a shrug before he added dismissively, "You think you could get this close to my little brother without a thorough background check?"

Val nearly had to laugh at that. She wasn't quite sure, if the feeling came from shock or somewhat morbid amusement about the fact that she was being treated as if she wanted to get into a mafia family, though.

"This is not something you can give a try and then move on when it doesn't work out," the blonde angel added very seriously, fixing her with his blue eyes in a way that made her feel completely and utterly exposed, "Gabriel suffered over the course of those days you took to come to a conclusion and he's going to suffer even worse, if you let him think that he will get the happily ever after he craves just to let him down again. I'm just not convinced that you even know how hard this is going to be."

Balthazar hadn't seen a reason to believe that Sam might have anything but Gabriel's best interest in mind ever since the human had decided to accept the archangel as his son and never give him up again, but he couldn't help thinking that a long neglected body part was heavily involved in the decision making process in this case. Besides, the younger Winchester didn't exactly have the best track record as far as relationships went, so the angel felt quite justified in his doubts.

"Don't you think I've spent a long time thinking about exactly that? Every time something out of the ordinary will come up, Sam is going to wonder if I'll run again," Valerie countered, meeting Balthazar's gaze, even though she really wanted to lower her eyes, "And I'll probably spend a lot more time doubting that he's really telling me everything there is to know than I ever thought I would. I know it's not going to be smooth sailing, not now and maybe not ever. We both know that, but we still want to make it work. We know we can make it work."

Even after the betrayal of trust on both sides, even after the revelation of life-changing facts, even after they had agreed that being simply friends again so Gabriel would still get to have her around when he wanted to - nothing more nothing less - was an option as well, they still loved each other.

"I don't really give a damn if you break Sam's heart," Balthazar shrugged, his voice had softened ever so slightly, however. What he had said wasn't completely true, either. The younger Winchester had grown on him and it wouldn't be nice to see him heartbroken, but Gabriel was the one he was always most concerned about. They all had done their part in letting him grow up safe, happy and somewhat sheltered and Balthazar would do his damndest to let it stay that way.

"I do," Val pointed out before she added softly, "And I care about Gabriel just as much."

Balthazar gave her a critical look, but didn't say anything more. Sam and Jody had emerged from the house and he really didn't want to include them into the conversation. The angel was pretty sure that both humans wouldn't be on his side in this and he had already managed to say everything he really had wanted to say, anyway.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked, wrapping his arm around Val with a slightly worried smile. He and Jody had clearly interrupted something here and it didn't look like the woman and the angel had been making friendly small talk about the weather.

"Yeah, I'm good," Valerie replied, putting her palm against her boyfriend's chest for a few long moments. She would probably have to chew on some of the things Balthazar had said for quite some time, but he hadn't managed to make her doubt that she was exactly where she should be even for a second and that at least was a damn good feeling.

* * *

_Uncle Dean still insists that he is not too old to play soccer with you (for the record, I completely agree with him there) but he says that he is too old to take a football to the balls without flinching. I don't really think that's a matter of age, however._


	32. Chapter 32

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Mello18, midnight0211, Maddy Love Castiel, Tendencia, Keefer, L. Greene, CherylB1964, kb18142, Pizzapig and FireChildSlytherin5 for last chapter's reviews!**  
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**32**

_January 3rd, 2021_

_Uncle Dean decided that today was 'Impala appreciation day' which means he grabbed you, put you in the car and said you'd be back for dinner… maybe. _

* * *

"Uncle Dean," Gabriel stated thoughtfully after they had driven for about five minutes with the only sounds coming from the radio, "You and grandpa are the only people I know who still use tapes."

Dean shrugged, giving his nephew a short side-glance that was meant to let the kid know that he didn't exactly understand where he was going with this.

"My friends didn't even know that stuff like that existed before I told them," the archangel spoke on, eyeing the tape deck like it might tell him why the hell it was still there. There were a lot of things he could communicate with, but soulless objects weren't on the list. Not that he'd ever tell his uncle that the Impala was at its core an inanimate object that was held together by the love Dean poured into keeping it in good shape and the grace Castiel used to keep it up and running mostly these days.

"So? Not everything is better just because it's newer," the older Winchester replied with a shrug, "It's the first radio that ever was in the Impala and it's going to be the last, too."

Gabriel nodded, reaching over to turn the volume up a bit. He might not fully comprehend why his uncle insisted that his tapes were better than any other medium that would carry exactly the same music files and would most likely even give a cleaner sound, but he still enjoyed the music itself.

"You used to do that when you were still a baby, too," Dean commented fondly, looking at how the boy moved along with the song in his seat, bobbing his head and kicking his legs every now and then, "It's how we knew we didn't have to exchange you for another model."

The older Winchester remembered very well how he had first noticed that the baby reacted positively to his music and even moved to the beat as much as he had been able to at that age. Sam had thought it was hilarious, of course. To Dean it had been one of the things that had made him really bond with the archangel.

"You'd have wanted another nephew, if I hadn't liked your music?" Gabriel asked, but it was pretty clear that he wasn't completely serious about it just like his uncle hadn't been serious, in the first place.

"Champ, if you had rejected my music, the Impala and pie, I'd have returned you immediately," the older Winchester replied with faked seriousness, "Of course, your dad would have kicked my ass at least forty ways to Sunday for trying only."

The archangel nodded contently. He had no doubts whatsoever that his father would have done everything to get him back. He also had no doubts that his uncle would have never really given him away again. The older Winchester just liked to make stupid jokes and rile people up and Gabriel knew that he didn't have to take these things any more serious than anything televangelists said.

"Who would you have exchanged me for?" Gabriel wanted to know after 'stairway to heaven' had ended and the next song had only just started. It was a purely hypothetical question of course, but they didn't talk about all the brothers and sisters the archangel didn't actually know that often, so he thought he might as well take the chance when it presented itself.

"Honestly? No idea, all the awesome angels are already a part of the family," Dean answered, ruffling his nephew's hair. Alright, they only had three angels in the family and it probably wasn't fair to say that all those they had never met were the same kind of douchebags or outright assholes the ones they had gotten to know were. The older Winchester had never claimed that he was being completely fair, however.

"You just called Balthy awesome," Gabriel pointed out with a cheeky grin.

"No, no, no. I said all the awesome angels were part of the family, not that every angel in the family was awesome. Big difference, buddy," Dean pointed out matter-of-factly, "Not a word to your douchebag brother, you hear me?"

Gabriel nodded with a small grin. He wasn't going to tell Balthazar anything about this talk and he definitely wasn't going to mention that his uncle actually thought that Balthy was one of the awesome angels, even if he wouldn't be caught dead saying it out loud.

* * *

"You good?" the older Winchester asked his nephew, handing a bottle of root beer to the boy.

They had stopped at a lookout after driving for a good long while and Dean had put a blanket on the hood of the Impala and had told Gabriel to sit on it. Sure, it was January and it was pretty damn cold, but they were dressed accordingly and it was the middle of the day, so the sun was warming them a little and the hood of the car was warm from driving around, too.

"Yeah," Gabriel replied, taking the bottle and leaning back against the windshield carefully. It wasn't like he even could have caught a cold. Sure, the archangel didn't like feeling cold – who did? – but it couldn't harm him all the same. This far the chill didn't get to him, anyway.

"Good, wouldn't want my favorite nephew to freeze," Dean commented, opening a bottle of beer for himself and sitting next to Gabriel. As much as the older Winchester enjoyed going to amusement parks or to the cinema with his nephew, what he liked best was still just parking the Impala some place nice and just sitting there for a while.

He had liked those moments with Sam, when his brother hadn't tried his best to force a chick flick moment on him, anyway. He sure enjoyed it when he and Cas had some downtime, which happened often enough if he was being honest, and they could just sit in companionable silence. Castiel generally didn't have a problem with keeping his mouth shut and between the two of them Dean often was the one who started with some sort of small talk after a while.

The older Winchester had figured that it was about time that he showed his nephew one of his favorite things, too. Besides, Gabriel should be old enough to enjoy it for a little while, at least.

"I'm your only nephew," the archangel pointed out, sipping from his bottle. It was easy to be the number one when there was nobody else to compete with, after all. Technically, he might have a lot of brothers and sisters, but his uncle wouldn't call any of them his nephews or nieces. Hell, Gabriel only called two of them his brothers, as things were.

"If I had others you'd still be my favorite," Dean replied with a shrug. If – and that seemed to be a big if – there should ever be another nephew, the older Winchester could always say that they were both his favorites. If the second one was a girl, there wouldn't be a problem at all, because she would be his favorite niece instead.

"Because I can make pie appear," Gabriel grinned. Of course, he was also funny, smart and a through and through nice kid. Those were the things he heard most often, anyway. He might not have many close friends, but there were a lot of people they saw regularly and most of them were full of praise for him.

"Exactly," the older Winchester agreed, reaching over to ruffle the boy's hair playfully.

They sat in silence for a little while after that. From their parking spot they had a perfect view over the surrounding area. The way everything was covered in snow and the smoke coming from the chimneys of most houses made the entire scene look very picturesque, not that Dean would have ever called it that.

"Uncle Dean?" Gabriel asked a little while later, looking over to the adult with barely concealed curiosity, "Are there many monsters out there?"

The older Winchester took a swig of his beer so he would have another second before he needed to give any kind of answer to that question. He wasn't quite sure what the archangel actually wanted to know. Dean knew that his nephew possessed the hell of a lot of knowledge without anyone having taught him about these things beforehand, but it was hard to guess what things he did and didn't know. He took a deep breath and decided to give an answer he would have given a completely normal child under the same circumstances, too.

"Yeah, from what I've seen there's about nothing that doesn't exist, other than unicorns and bigfoot," Dean replied in a lighthearted tone, "Where did that question come from?"

It wasn't like the archangel often asked about things like that. Okay, the older Winchester didn't know what exactly he was talking about with his brothers all the time, but he had thought they were speaking about angel-related things mostly. Monsters had never seemed to be something the boy concerned himself with. They luckily didn't play a part in his life, anyway. Crowley might be a monster, but the youngest Winchester clearly didn't see him as one, so that was different.

"I don't wanna be a hunter," Gabriel explained, trying to scratch the label off the bottle he was holding with his gloved fingers. He really thought that his uncle and his dark-haired brother were heroes for fighting all these things all the time and he admired them for it, but it just wasn't something he could imagine doing himself. The archangel would of course lend a helping hand, if the situation demanded for it. He just didn't want to make a living of only doing that.

"Your dad will like to hear that, I'm sure," the older Winchester stated before he added with a frown, "What makes you think anybody would want you to be a hunter, anyway?"

Dean was pretty sure that Sam wouldn't have tried to influence his kid into that direction – if anything he'd have tried to talk him out of it – and while Bobby readily shared his knowledge and experience if it was asked of him, he didn't exactly go and advertise the hunter lifestyle as something that was so great it should pursued, either.

"I'd be good at it," Gabriel answered quietly. He knew that with his powers he could kill many monsters much more easily than any of the other hunters out there could.

"You'll be good at a million more things, champ," the older Winchester pointed out before he asked the question he thought was most important in this topic, "What do you want to do?"

"I want to make people happy and I want to have fun." the boy shrugged. He didn't really have a career path in mind, but those two requirements seemed to be the most important ones. In that respect his uncle was a great role model, because it was pretty clear that Dean enjoyed hunting a lot and he was helping people with it, too. The archangel could take a leaf out of the older Winchester's book there, but he couldn't copy what he was doing, because one of those two points wouldn't apply to him.

"Alright, I'm sure there are a lot of jobs that fit that description," Dean said encouragingly, nudging his nephew with his elbow before he added, "Any girls in your plan for the future?"

The older Winchester was sure that he could handle a serious man to man talk at least just as well as his younger brother could, but he didn't think that discussing the topic any longer would help his nephew. The most important things had been said, so it was time to lighten the mood a little. Lighten the mood and tease the boy. Both things went together very well, after all.

"I'm only ten, uncle Dean," Gabriel nearly squeaked, blushing immediately. He still didn't think that girls were disgusting, but he had started being a bit shy around them. Well, Sophie was the obvious exception, because he had known her for a very long time.

"Never too early to start," Dean grinned, taking another swig of his beer which gave him another idea he was pretty sure his brother would disagree with, but Sam wasn't anywhere close to them, "Speaking of which…"

The archangel stared at the bottle his uncle was offering to him like he thought it might bite him. He finally extended his hand, looking at the older Winchester suspiciously the entire time. The boy fully expected the adult to pull his arm away again, laughing at him for falling for the joke.

"One sip," Dean insisted once Gabriel had taken the beer from him, "And if your dad says anything, remind him that he had his first taste with eight."

What could he say? There just were a lot of contacts of their dad who cared for social rules even less than John Winchester had. One of them had dared Sam to drink some beer after the little brat hadn't stopped insisting that he was old enough to be treated like an adult.

The archangel took a sip carefully, pulled a face and spat most of it into the snow next to the Impala.

Dean couldn't help laughing long and loudly at that. It looked like he wouldn't have to worry that the boy would go home and demand to be allowed to drink beer more often, because he liked it.

"Bitter, ugh!" Gabriel commented with a disgusted expression, handing the bottle back to his uncle as quickly as if it was burning him.

"Your dad had about the same reaction, too," the older Winchester stated, still chuckling not only because of his nephew's actions but also because of the memory of his little brother's much younger self.

"Come on, time to go home," Dean said a little time later, putting the blanket they had been sitting on back into the trunk of the Impala. He also found a chocolate bar he offered to the boy to get rid of the lingering taste of the beer with.

"You're my favorite uncle," Gabriel stated, happily munching on his chocolate.

"I'm your only uncle," the older Winchester shot back with a grin. The archangel was insanely easy to bribe. Not that Dean thought that was the only reason why he had made that statement. He knew that the boy loved him and he loved Gabe right back.

"You'd still be my favorite, if I had others," Gabriel replied seriously.

The older Winchester smiled, handing the box with the cassette tapes to his nephew.

* * *

_For the record, I was nearly nine when that stupid beer incident happened. I've got to give it to my brother, he's an awesome uncle, though. However, if he ever allows one of your friends as much as a tiny sip of anything not suitable for children, I'll have to kill him._


	33. Chapter 33

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Mello18, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, CassXDeano, FireChildSlytherin5, L. Greene, Nyx Ro, MishaIsMyCastiel, CherylB1964, kb18142, Pizzapig, Evelina, SARA1988, midnight0211 and Avalonemyst for last chapter's reviews!**  
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**33**

_October 16th, 2021_

_Val and I have to run some errands that would only bore you to death, so Bobby and Jody offered to craft Halloween decorations with you, Toshio and Sophie today._

* * *

"I'm getting a mom!" Gabriel yelled excitedly as soon as his two friends entered the dining room where Jody had put all the paper, glue, scissors and all the other things they would need to build whatever Halloween decorations they wanted to have that year.

Sophie squealed and hugged her friend tightly immediately while Toshio took a short moment longer to absorb the information and think it through before he joined the hugging.

"We bought a really cool ring and dad asked her and she said yes!" Gabriel added as soon as he could breathe properly again.

Sam had asked his son's opinion on the topic first and after the archangel had agreed very vocally they had gone to the jeweler's to look for an engagement ring. The boy would have preferred something more colorful, but his father had explained to him that Val would probably want to always wear it, so it would have to go with everything she might wear. They had decided to take a simple silver ring with a small, rounded diamond in the middle, in the end.

The invitations would be sent out soon, but the entire family had already been informed, so Gabriel really wanted to share the news with his two best friends, as well. They had helped with getting Sam and Val to date in the first place, after all!

"And to think we brought the two together," Toshio stated proudly just a moment later. They had done a damn good job there, even if it had taken quite some time. From the perspective of an only just twelve year old it had been a long time, anyway.

"We are a-awesome!" Sophie agreed happily.

The three children took their places around the table soon afterward and began sorting through the materials they had at their disposal. Jody had been thoughtful enough to provide them with pictures of things they might want to try to build, too.

"How does a wedding even work?" Gabriel asked thoughtfully, after he had drawn the general shape of the devil he wanted to cut out. He had never been present at one, but he got the feeling that he should know what to expect there. It couldn't hurt to collect some information, anyway.

"There is a p-prince and a p-princess-" Sophie started, looking up from her own ghostly figure before she was rudely interrupted.

"In real life, Sophie!" Toshio groaned, putting on his thoughtful face as he tried to come up with a good answer to the initial question. He didn't know any more about real weddings than any of the other two did, though. If he had known that they were going to talk about this that day, he could have asked his mother beforehand. Then again, it wasn't so likely that Mari had the same ideas about what a wedding should be like than Sam had. She would surely gladly offer her opinion, though.

"However the hell the bride wants it to," Bobby threw in his two cents and got a mildly reprimanding look from Sheriff Mills for his troubles. She obviously didn't have any good examples to prove him wrong however, so she kept quiet about that.

"Why don't you ask your dad and Val what they think about it?" Jody suggested reasonably a moment later.

"Because I want to be helpful, if they want to know something," Gabriel explained, grabbing one of the scissors to cut out his big, red devil with. He thought about giving the figure black sunglasses and a mostly black suit for a moment. Crowley might like that, if he chose to pay them a visit around Halloween and if he didn't, the archangel could still give it to him the next time he showed up.

"In the m-movies the bride s-sometimes runs away," Sophie stated thoughtfully, looking for a black pen she could use to draw eyes on her ghost. The girl eyed the other colors and wondered, if a ghost could wear a sheet with flowers or something instead of a boring white one, but the boys were probably going to laugh at her for that. Maybe she could make a second one later on. That way they at least couldn't say that she didn't know what a ghost was supposed to look like.

"Yeah, you should make sure Val wears shoes like Sophie's mom. She'd never be able to run with those!" Toshio commented with a grin, poking his tongue out at the girl when she threw him an annoyed glare.

"My m-mom runs f-faster than your mom," she insisted stubbornly. Sophie wouldn't know for sure, but since the boy had dared to more or less say that her mom couldn't run, she had had to defend her mother's honor.  
"Yeah, but not faster than his dad," the boy shot back nearly diplomatically. Besides, he knew that his mother was running like a snail at best, so even if Sophie's mom was a turtle, she'd still be faster.

Sophie considered that for a moment before she nodded. That was something they could agree on. If her mother ever decided to run in a race against Sam, it wouldn't be a fair contest, anyway. Rebecca was over a foot shorter than he was and so her legs were much shorter than his, too.

"I don't think Val will run away," Gabriel stated a little unsure. The very thought seemed ridiculous, but if it was in the movies then it probably had happened before somewhere. He slapped the black sunglasses he had cut out of some more paper on the devil with more force than strictly necessary.

"Course she won't," Bobby stated with enough confidence in his voice that his grandson's mood got better again immediately.

"But if it'll make you feel better I could stand by the entrance, gun drawn," Jody offered with a chuckle. This time she got a very mildly reprimanding look from her partner. As often as Bobby threatened to get out his shotgun and use it on one of the idjits he really didn't have the right to slap her wrist for making an empty threat, though.

"I'll keep that in mind," Gabriel replied seriously. He knew that the sheriff had most likely just made a joke, but you never knew when an offer like that might be useful and there was a grain of truth in most jokes, anyway.

They worked on their respective Halloween decorations for a little while in silence after that problem was seemingly solved. Toshio's mummy was coming along nicely and so were Sophie's ghost and Gabriel's devil. They would probably have to think of something new to do soon, but there were enough possibilities left to keep them busy for quite some time.

The archangel cocked his head slightly, trying to decide if Crowley would prefer a witch or Frankenstein's bride to go with the devil. He decided to go for the first option, because witches really existed and he was quite sure that Crowley would prefer something that was real.

"Mr. S-S-Singer, do you have glitter?" Sophie asked, grabbing another white sheet of construction paper.

"Only if you're not going to use it on a vampire," Bobby commented gruffly, looking through the box where he was pretty sure he had seen some silver and gold glitter earlier. It wasn't the first time they had ever had Gabriel over for some arts and crafts, after all.

"No, a g-ghost," the girl vowed, raising her hand to show how serious she was about it.

"Alright then," Bobby nodded satisfied and handed the little jars he had only just located over to her. He had gotten used to sort of celebrating Halloween years ago, they all had. There was still a part of him that wasn't quite happy with the kids treating all those all too real monsters like something that only existed in books and movies, however. Then again, he wouldn't have liked it any better to see them cowering in fear, because they knew that all those things really were out there.

"Oh, glittering ghosts are okay, but sparkling vampires are where you draw the line," Jody chuckled, kissing the older hunter's cheek. That probably was partly her fault, though. She had been the one to give in to one of her nieces' begging and had rented one of the Twilight movies. It was hard to believe that Bobby still wasn't over that years later, though.

"Enough is enough, woman," the older hunter replied in a lecturing tone before he went looking for some elastic bands. It was only a matter of time until the children got tired of creating more decorations and he thought they might enjoy crafting masks for themselves then.

* * *

"I'm proud of you," Sheriff Mills stated with a chuckle, looking at the three kids playing tag, "There are a ghost, a zombie and a vampire running around in the living room and you didn't break out the rock salt or machete."

Jody had learned a lot about the supernatural beings that were out there over the years, if only – or mostly – so she could keep up with the things the men were talking about ever so often. Dean and Castiel were especially likely to go on and on about the one hunt or the other and she had to admit that she enjoyed the slightly flabbergasted looks the older Winchester threw her way when she got involved into the talk with far more details than he would have thought she would know about.

"Someone clearly ate a clown for breakfast today," Bobby huffed, raising an eyebrow at his partner. Between the two of them the sheriff clearly was the one who cracked more lighthearted jokes, but she seemed to be in an exceptionally silly mood that day.

"If so, it's your fault. You cooked it," Jody shot back with a smirk. Alright, she probably was pushing her luck, but it wasn't like Bobby was really annoyed. She had seen him in one of his really darker moods and that was completely different. Luckily something like that was a very rare occurrence these days. It sure helped that the somewhat strange but rather competent guy called Garth had taken over most of his duties, so the older hunter only had to deal with things when everything else failed.

"You're so lucky I love you," the hunter grumbled, shaking his head in mostly faked annoyance.

"Yes, I am," Jody agreed, stroking over Bobby's cheek tenderly, "I'll go prepare dinner."

The three children would surely be hungry as soon as they were done playing. As active as they were it was no miracle that all three of them were rather slender even with all the sweets and junkfood they ate ever so often.

"You're a ghost," Toshio commented when both he and Sophie were running away from Gabriel, "You shouldn't run, you should float!"

"A-a-and you should walk like t-this!" the girl countered, lifting her arms and walking with stiff legs which immediately gave the archangel the chance to get his hands on her. "No fair!"

It took only a few more moments until Sophie and Gabriel teamed up against Toshio and the three of them ended struggling on the floor playfully. Actually, that was how most their games ended, with all of them laughing and ready to do something else again.

They all had eaten the meatloaf Jody had prepared and were sitting in front of the TV watching cartoons when Sam came back to pick all three of them up and return them to their respective homes.

"C-C-Con-gratulations!" Sophie exclaimed as soon as she saw the younger Winchester, grinning at him widely, "Can we c-come to the wedding?"

It would totally suck not to be invited. Gabriel needed to have his friends there, after all. Not to mention that she could go to buy a beautiful dress with her mother so she'd be properly dressed and there would probably be cake. Sophie really didn't want to miss that. Judged by the curious looks Toshio shot the adult he was thinking something along those lines as well, even if he probably didn't want a new dress.

"Friends and family, so sure," Sam replied with a crooked smile. He had expected that the archangel would tell his friends immediately, but he wasn't sure he was fully prepared for the phone call from Mari he could surely expect later on under the circumstances. They had only decided that they wanted a short engagement and a winter wedding this far and it was highly unlikely that Toshio's mother would be satisfied with that. On the positive side he'd probably have a checklist of all things they really should talk about and decide on before the day was over.

"Do we have to bring a plus one?" Toshio asked a little suspiciously. The thought that that might be expected had only just occurred to him. He was familiar with that concept from family reunions where it was always plus one for everyone who wasn't yet married but might have a girlfriend or boyfriend to bring along. The boy was by far too young to date yet, though.

"D-Dibs on G-Gabe!" Sophie stated seriously, grabbing the archangel's shoulder for emphasis. It wasn't like she had a million other best friends and between Gabriel and Toshio, she would always choose the blonde boy first. It wasn't that she didn't like the Japanese boy, he came a very close second and as her father liked to say, you couldn't always be first.

"No worries, you don't have to bring anyone," Sam told Toshio, trying not to laugh, because he was pretty sure the boy would think he was laughing at him. The very idea that pre-teens would be expected to show up with a partner was quite interesting, however. It was of course made funnier by the enthusiasm with which Sophie had claimed Gabriel as her date.

"Good, because I need to be sixteen and have a GPA of A minus or better before I can date," Toshio replied in the serious tone he always used when he repeated things his parents told him.

The younger Winchester really hoped that the boy's parents wouldn't be too disappointed, if he eventually broke a few of their rules. As he knew them both however, it was most likely that they would adapt the rules to slightly more realistic ones when the time they really would be needed came closer.

"Alright, let's get you home," Sam suggested a few moments later and watched the kids run to collect the decorations they had crafted earlier.

* * *

_I'm not sure I should have as much fun with the thought that Crowley might hang the piece of art you made for him over his throne as I do._


	34. Chapter 34

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, SARA1988, CassXDeano, CherylB1964, Miahbug, MishaIsMyCastiel, kb18142, Keefer and Pizzapig for last chapter's reviews!

* * *

**34**

_January 16th, 2022_

_You spent the night at Toshio's and Mari offered to get the two of you dressed and ready for the wedding which I'm insanely grateful for right now. Apparently, 'Dude, I'm nearly 40!' is no excuse for not having a bachelor party. The less said about that the better. No wait, there's one thing that I really should share. If Dean and Balthazar ask what you'd like to do for your stag night, the worst possible answer is 'Whatever, I don't really care'._

* * *

Sam had been pretty lucky that – after laughing a good long while – Balthazar had shown some mercy and had removed his hangover, giving him a little energy boost and a fresher complexion while he was at it. The blonde angel hadn't put as much effort as he had into making sure that everyone he had any sort of influence over was dressed perfectly for the occasion just to let something pesky like the human body's need for rest mess it all up!

"Tie control," Balthazar told the two little boys who had just been dropped off by Mari and Jiro in front of the little church they had chosen while they looked for a parking space. Apparently, Toshio's father often showed a disregard for parking regulations and his mother wanted to make sure to give him a piece of her mind immediately, if he only thought of putting them at risk of receiving another ticket.

"Impressive, whoever tied those?" the angel asked with a raised eyebrow after he had taken a good look at the knots of the boys' ties. He had been fully prepared to make some corrections there, but it looked like someone knew how to tie a perfect knot.

"My mom," Toshio stated proudly. His mother might have annoyed them all a lot with insisting that all the little details should be perfect too, but hearing the adult comment on one of those little things saying that she had done a great job was still making him feel pretty good. Mari was his mother and he loved and respected her a lot, after all.

"Come on, I wanna see dad!" Gabriel stated, clearly bursting with energy and excitement, pulling his best friend into the church behind him.

Balthazar looked after the two boys with a small smile before he called, "Don't touch the hair! It took ages to make that look acceptable!"

The two boys didn't take long to locate the two adult Winchesters. They both looked like Balthazar had whacked them over the head with a fashion magazine for the modern groom and best man so hard that they had transformed into one of the pictures, except for Dean's expression which looked pretty much just like he had been whacked over the head.

"Not even the kids were safe," the older Winchester grumbled, looking at the two boys who had been dressed up just as pristinely as they were. Usually, that wouldn't have been a bad thing, but Dean had been annoyed ever since Balthazar had taken his tie away from him to give it a different knot and it hadn't helped his mood any that the angel had then proceeded to fiddle with his clothing until the older Winchester had threatened to cut his fingers off with an angel blade.

"Come on, Dean," Sam sighed, elbowing his older brother. He might at least try to put a smile on his face! Sure, the ceremony hadn't started yet – not even everybody had arrived – but it would have been nice to see Dean smile, anyway.

Gabriel hugged his father and uncle not quite as tightly as he usually would, so he didn't accidentally mess up their suits. He didn't even get to ask if his dad was very nervous, where everyone else was and how long it still was until they would get started before Sophie came running toward them, her father trailing behind her with a slightly bewildered expression.

"That guy outside checking out everyone's wardrobe is a relative of yours?" Tom asked casually, pointing his thumb over his shoulder into the general direction of Balthazar. He sighed relieved in that rather showy way he did basically everything in when Sam nodded slightly. "She got a pass… I had to hand over my tie for re-tying."

Sophie grinned widely at those words and spun around her own axis once to let everyone see the pretty pink dress her mother had bought for her. The way Gabriel's eyes were fixed on the girl finally brought the smirk back to Dean's lips, too.

The older Winchester's good mood only lasted for a very short time, however. "Oh hell, no."

Sam frowned for a moment before he followed his brother's gaze and spotted Crowley next to the entrance. 'Hell no' seemed like quite the understatement. At least Dean had already gone to deal with the king of hell which left it to the younger Winchester to explain that Crowley was the uncle who actually hadn't been invited.

"Get your damned ass back to hell!" the older Winchester hissed as soon as he was close enough to the demon to lead a hushed conversation with him.

"Such crude words in a house of God," Crowley replied mockingly, "No worries, I passed the wardrobe check."

"I'm gonna kill the douchebag," Dean muttered under his breath.

"So, you would have preferred other surprise guests?" the king of hell asked in his usual condescending tone of voice, "I keep a tight grip on my subordinates, but this would have been too tempting for many. But – of course – I can go back and walk the hellhounds leaving you idiots to fend for yourselves."

The older Winchester's face hardened as he stared the demon down, but he had to admit that Crowley probably had a point. Dean gave a tight nod, even though he felt like he could have thrown up simply from having to allow the demon to stay at his younger brother's wedding.

It didn't help that Crowley had one more snarky comment before he walked inside completely. "This country has come such a long way. First gay marriage and now they add moose to the mix."

At least, there were enough angels present who could kick the damned demon's ass, if he couldn't keep his shit together. The thought of Cas going high and mighty on Crowley brought the smile back to Dean's face, even if it had a touch of grim satisfaction.

Outside Balthazar had just complimented Mari on her marvelous tie tying skills as another car came to a stop and a slightly hectic looking Valerie got out, Sophie's mother right behind her. The blonde angel didn't even need them to get any closer to know that they both suffered from massive headaches which spoke volumes about the night they must have had. Not that either woman looked anything but perfectly styled for the occasion, but even for someone who didn't make it a habit to monitor the feelings of those around him it was impossible not to pick up on that sort of nagging pain.

"Nice hairdo," Balthazar commented, reaching out to tuck a little stray strand back behind Val's ear, even though he was pretty sure that it had been meant to be loose in the first place. It gave him the chance to slightly touch the side of her head and remove the headache as discretely as possible, however.

The blonde woman sighed relieved and smiled at the angel. Balthazar had taken some time to warm up to her again, but he had come around after he had seen that the relationship really was working and Gabriel was more than happy with the way things were progressing.

"Get in there and get married," the angel stated with a smirk, walking into the church after the two women just a few moments later.

* * *

The ceremony passed in a blur, Sam felt like it did, anyway. They had agreed on a simple one where the two of them only had to say yes, exchange the rings – which Gabriel handed to them with a pride swelled chest – and kiss. There was nothing much that could go wrong there and the less there was that could go wrong the less would go wrong.

It was only when the kiss was over and Sam had whispered an affectionate "Mrs. Winchester" into Val's ear that he could actually believe that everything had gone according to plan.

Not many people had been invited for the wedding, because they both had agreed that they only wanted their families and closest friends to be present. After Valerie's parents had declined the invitation, sending back a rather impersonal note with a check attached, they had been left with less than twenty guests.

When they walked out of the church, Gabriel walking between them, and got showered with confetti by their cheering guests it became more than clear that all the important people – plus Crowley – had followed their invitation, anyway.

A little while later they all had arrived at the moderately sized banquet hall Balthazar had booked for them. They had made sure that there would be dinner, a bar, good music and a small dance floor so hopefully everyone should be satisfied.

"Are you happy?" Sam asked his new wife quietly, kissing her cheek.

"Do you really have to ask?" Val replied with a wide smile.

The younger Winchester had just been about to reply when his eyes followed the blonde woman's hands as she removed her gloves and he noticed the bruises that looked suspiciously like they had been caused by handcuffs around her wrists.

"What…?" Sam started a question, but was interrupted when his wife put a finger against his lips to keep him from speaking on.

"Don't ever ask what we did last night and I won't ever ask what you did," Valerie suggested a deal she thought was fair for both of them. She really had no idea what the guys had been up to, but knowing that both Dean and Balthazar had been involved in the planning, it seemed like a safe guess that there were at least a couple of things Sam wouldn't want to share, anyway.

"Agreed," the younger Winchester said easily, kissing her for a long moment to seal their agreement.

Next to them Gabriel was grinning basically non-stop. He had been waiting for this day for months and there was not a shred of doubt in his mind that he now finally had his mother. In fact, he had already asked Val, if he was allowed to call her mom now and she had just nodded and hugged him tight.

"You're going to tell me, though?" the archangel wanted to know with a slight frown. He thought that they could keep secrets from each other, if they both agreed that it was okay, but he didn't want to be left out of the loop here.

"When you're older," Sam promised not saying that Gabriel could probably just ask Balthazar, because it simply was too dangerous that they really would have a conversation like that in the nearer future then.

The archangel nodded, satisfied. They all shouldn't think for a moment that he didn't remember every little thing they had said they would explain to him when he was older over the years. He would demand the answers to a great many things eventually!

After they all had finished eating Sam smiled sheepishly and asked his wife for the first dance. He might not be a great or all too passionate dancer most of the time, but this still was something he didn't want to miss.

It wasn't long before Bobby and Jody joined them and Mari dragged Jiro to the dance floor, as well. Soon nobody with a suitable dancing partner was left in their seat anymore.

Sophie was allowed to stand on Balthazar's feet as the angel moved the two of them over the dance floor gracefully. It just figured that the only single woman around would be barely 12 years old. The blonde angel would be tempted to call this a very lame wedding, but they had a bunch of happy couples – most of which contained at least one hunter with the exception of the two friends and their partners Val had invited – an archangel, two angels and a demon, so lame probably wasn't the right word after all.

Not even two minutes passed before Gabriel wandered over to them and asked to cut in. Balthazar shrugged lightly. He didn't see a reason not to humor his little brother. Joining Crowley at the bar seemed like a good alternative to dancing with a little girl, anyway. How often did you get the chance to be able to say that you had been drinking with the king of hell at a wedding?

"Congratulations on getting dumb and dumber into tailored suits," the demon commented after a few moments of silence. Crowley might not get his information from anyone in this ragtag group the Winchesters called their family, but that didn't mean that he didn't know about quite a lot of the things that were going on.

"You wouldn't believe how hard that was, mate," Balthazar replied with a casual shrug.

"When it's about those two morons, I'm a believer of a great many things," Crowley snorted, but raised his glass toward the blonde angel in invitation. As far as those heavenly pigeons went this one at least seemed to have his priorities straight and he sure was more fun to talk to than the average angel.

Balthazar smirked and clinked glasses with the demon. He could admit that he had always been somewhat fond of Crowley's general style. If hell had to exist and if it had to have a king, they all probably were quite lucky that it was this one, at least as long as he kept his ambitions focused on ruling hell alone.

In the meantime Castiel kept watch over the dancing couples. Music was one of the things he had learned to enjoy over the years, even if not every kind of music that agreed with him was of the sort that Dean would call suitable for listening to in the Impala or ever. The way the people were moving to the beat and obviously enjoying themselves brought a small smile to the angel's lips, too.

"Looks like you wanna dance," the older Winchester commented next to the dark-haired angel. It never failed to amuse Dean to see what things Cas could get interested in. Sometimes it looked like everything most humans took for granted or viewed as something completely normal was special to the angel. The older Winchester wondered how long Castiel would have to live on Earth before these things lost their appeal to him. Looking at how very much into most shows, movies and even commercials the dark-haired angel regularly got even after seeing a lot of those for years there was hope that he would keep at least some of his wide-eyed and charmingly naïve take on life, though. Dean wouldn't dream of complaining if he did, either.

"I think I would enjoy that," Castiel replied thoughtfully. He hadn't given dancing a chance yet, but it looked like an activity he could learn to enjoy. It might take some time to learn the more complex moves. The kind of swaying and stepping mostly forward and backward while adding a bit of a turn every now and then Sam and Valerie were doing didn't look too complicated, however.

"Pretty sure you could convince Rebecca," Dean pointed out, lifting his glass to his lips again.

The dark-haired angel remained silent, looking toward the dance floor again but showing no signs of actually wanting to find a dancing partner. Someone who knew him well enough – and the older Winchester liked to think that he knew the angel pretty well – could easily identify the dejected look on his face, though.

"Cas, man, I'd have to be way more drunk for that," the older Winchester groaned, putting his empty glass back on the table.

Castiel perked up a little and even smirked ever so slightly as he handed Dean another glass of whiskey.

* * *

_Who would have thought that Cas actually is quite a good dancer?_


	35. Chapter 35

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, L. Greene, Mello18, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, SARA1988, CherylB1964, Keefer, Pawn'sVictory, Avalonemyst, Miahbug, keacdragon, musicfiend2392, Pizzapig, kb18142, CassXDeano and MishaIsMyCastiel for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

* * *

**35**

_January 21st, 2022_

_I'm really proud of you, Gabe. You offered to stay home while we went on our honeymoon by yourself and you even promised not to pop in or call all the time. I know this is a really big step for you. Know what? It's a really big step for me, too. I haven't been away from you for ten days at a time ever…_

* * *

Both Sam and Val waved for the webcam as soon as the connection was established. They both missed Gabriel and having a video chat seemed like a good idea. That way they could see each other without having to resort to anything out of the ordinary.

"How are you doing, buddy?" Sam asked with a smile. It was easy enough to see that the archangel was not too unhappy, at least. His face had definitely lit up as soon as he had seen them on the computer screen, anyway.

"Good," Gabriel answered with a grin, "Grandpa is showing me how to paint devil traps and… shoot guns and…. uncle Dean gave me my very own machete and… Balthazar said I could come to one of his orgies before you come back."

To tell the truth, the archangel wasn't yet completely sure what an orgy even was, but he knew that it was something that really wasn't suitable for children, teenagers or possibly anyone.

"Wow, sounds like we'll have to come back home soon to put a stop to all that," the younger Winchester stated seriously. He knew that everything his son had just said was a lie, but it was pretty clear that the boy had only tried to find a few really good arguments for why they had to return soon without going into chick flick territory. Not that Gabriel usually cared about that at all, but he probably didn't want to get teary eyed or make them feel bad for leaving him back in South Dakota.

"And Castiel didn't even promise to take you on a bender? I'm shocked," Val added, putting her hand on Sam's thigh under the table, giving it a light squeeze. She understood that being apart from his – their – son was damn hard for her husband, but it was an experience they both probably needed.

"No," Gabriel laughed, "But he took me to an observatory the other day. It was nice."

Castiel might not be a great conversationalist usually, but he sure knew a lot of things about the stars and constellations and he had really interesting thoughts concerning the names humans had given to them.

"Why is it funny to see Uranus with the naked eye?" the archangel suddenly asked, catching the two adults unprepared. Val's eyes widened for a moment before she just had to laugh while Sam just pulled a face, fighting the urge to simply tell his son to ask his uncle about that.

"Cas said that it wasn't usual but possible to see Uranus with the naked eye and a couple of teenagers started to laugh," Gabriel elaborated with a frown, fixing his eyes on Valerie when she tried to hide her all too amused grin behind her hand. Obviously, she was getting the joke.

"Uh… Uranus sounds kind of dirty and teenagers are mostly immature brats," Sam replied, scratching the side of his head with a slightly embarrassed smile. He had considered not explaining anything, but he would have to start talking about stuff like that instead of always putting these things off until Gabriel was older eventually. Not to mention that it was quite likely that the boy would have put that one together by himself, eventually.

The archangel was quiet for a few moments, thinking about what his father had just said. At first, he didn't get it, but it was easy to tell the exact moments when he figured out what the play on words was about from the expression on his face.

"Cas says he made sure you got there safely and that he put protective sigils on the hotel room," Gabriel said, trying to get a look at the room his parents were staying at.

Sam smiled and picked the laptop up to let the archangel see more of their surroundings. The room Balthazar had booked for them was rather big and luxurious – no surprise there – and they had a great view over the sea from their balcony. They couldn't say that they had seen much of Maui in the five days they had been there already, but sightseeing was something they could have done with Gabriel present, as well.

"Best protected hotel room on the entire island," Sam confirmed, setting the laptop back down again. Dean had given Castiel very exact instructions for the protections he was meant to put up when he dropped the newlyweds off. The angel had been deeply apologetic about not being able to come up with the requested birth control sigil, though. That had been the moment when the younger Winchester had decided that he would get his brother and Cas matching shirts with the great picture of them dancing the photographer had snapped before Dean had threatened to kill him as souvenirs. Payback was a bitch, after all.

"I miss you," Gabriel stated, trying to smile bravely. He failed miserably as his eyes stared to water nearly immediately, though. The archangel loved staying with Bobby and Jody and being kidnapped for the one or the other activity by his brothers and uncle ever so often, but it was different when he knew that his dad wasn't waiting for him at home.

"I can't watch that," Valerie sighed, moving to the side slightly so there was some space between her and Sam on the couch, "Get over here!"

She hadn't even finished speaking before the boy appeared between them, hugging his father first and then extending his arm toward the blonde woman. What would have been the point in making all of them suffer just to stick to a rule they had come up with in the first place?

The three of them were still cuddling when Bobby's face showed up on the computer screen. They had managed five days more than he would have thought, he had to admit.

"Idjits," the older hunter mumbled before he added in a louder tone, "You better get back before dinner or we'll have to feed your hamburgers to Castiel."

The archangel made it back to Sioux Falls in time, feeling happier and somewhat optimistic that the next five days would be bearable, too.

* * *

As it turned out Balthazar owned an apartment in San Francisco and he wanted to invite his little brother for a sleepover. They sure spent a lot of time together, but Gabriel had never stayed with his older brother over night. One reason for that might be that nobody really knew where the hell Balthazar even was when he wasn't with them. To tell the truth, the blonde angel simply didn't have a permanent home. He had a lot of places he stayed at every now and then and even more people he stayed with whenever he felt like it. The place he would call home – though he probably wouldn't tell anyone – was Sioux Falls, because it was the home or home base of everyone who really meant something to him, though.

"Marshmallow," Gabriel demanded, holding his palm open and looking at his brother expectantly. Yes, they had decided to roast marshmallows over the fireplace, or rather the archangel had decided that that would be fun and Balthazar hadn't told him no.

"How high are the chances that you will ever become a caviar man?" the blonde angel asked his little brother with a smirk as he handed to bag with the sweet treats over.

"Very slim," Gabriel replied with a grin. He thought he might like caviar better than beer, but that didn't mean a lot. He had no wish to test that theory any time soon, anyway.

"Thought so," Balthazar stated, taking a marshmallow for himself to roast. That he preferred the more exclusive things in life didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy the simple things, especially if he could share them with his favorite brother.

"We need a scary story," the archangel pointed out a few moments of companionable silence later, "There are always scary stories with campfires."

The adult angel wasn't going to argue that his very elegant and expensive fireplace really wasn't comparable to a campfire. That was one argument he knew he couldn't win anyway, though.

"How scary?" Balthazar asked instead. He was going through stories he could tell his little brother in his mind, already. Most of them were at least based on real events, but they all were about things Gabriel would have heard about eventually. As much as the blonde angel liked to berate Castiel for his lack of imagination, when it came to storytelling he wasn't much better. Balthazar was better at putting things into his own words and taking some artistic liberties, though.

"Scary as you can make it," the archangel grinned, sitting on the floor cross-legged, "Bring it on, bro."

The adult angel smirked, looking his little brother directly in the eyes for effect as he started to tell the story that first popped into his mind and should meet the requirements that had been set for him.

"You know how evil people get punished in hell for all eternity?" Balthazar started in a low tone to set the right level of suspense, "Sometimes they get their hands on a good person, too."

Gabriel didn't look too impressed and so his brother went on to describe how people made deals and got dragged to hell by hellhounds for it. The archangel swallowed heavily at that, thinking of the hellhound plushy sitting next to his bed back at home. The new information he had just heard made the big black dog with the glowing red eyes look much more sinister than it had before. It was pretty obvious that the boy was only just starting to really get into the story, so Balthazar decided to go ahead and tell him more.

"In one very special case where a stupid as hell but ultimately righteous man sold his soul to safe his little brother an angel was sent to the deepest pits of hell to get him back out again," the angel spoke on, giving his voice a mysterious touch to make sure he really had his brother's attention, "Oh brother, if there is anything all those demons like better than getting their hands on a good soul, it's getting their hands on an angel. The demons that are running around up here? They're the more civilized kind, the ones that can still pass for humans when they want to. The savage ones that aren't more than mindless killing machines don't make it to the surface. They haven't figured out the way… yet."

Gabriel nodded tightly, reminding himself that he didn't have to be afraid of demons. Crowley wouldn't let any of them do anything to him or his family, he was sure of that.

"But when you go into their territory," Balthazar added, adding a short pause to his story for effect, "They'll try to rip off your wings, get their hands on the feathers until they're all burned, take your grace apart bit by little bit. You're lucky if you ever get out of there alive again, but that angel couldn't just turn back. He had to go on and get in deeper, knowing that if he ever made it to that soul, he'd have to go all the way back afterward!"

"That's… bullshit," Gabriel commented, though it was obvious that he wasn't sure at that point. He clearly wished that nothing he had just heard was true, however. It wasn't that unlikely that his brother had made all that up just to scare him, was it?

"You don't believe me?" Balthazar asked with a raised eyebrow before he added in a louder tone, "Ask Dean and Castiel!"

It took a moment for that to sink in, but when it did the reaction was instantaneous and let the angel know he had made a mistake immediately.

"You can't tell me stories like that!" Gabriel nearly squeaked, looking at his bigger brother with wide, terrified eyes. That he now knew that at least some parts of the story had happened exactly like Balthazar had just told it made everything even worse!

"You wanted the scariest story I could think of," the blonde angel pointed out with a shrug. Thinking about it, he probably shouldn't have gone for a real story about people his little brother knew and loved, though. Oh well, Gabriel would have heard it eventually and Balthazar always watched his back around the older Winchester, anyway. He was pretty sure he had a good reason to fear that Dean might try to kill him for the stunt he had just pulled.

"I'm a child! I don't know what's good for me!" the archangel pouted, "Now you'll have to sit with me all night or I'll have bad dreams!"

"Or you just don't sleep tonight, since you technically don't have to, brother," Balthazar suggested reasonably as he thought. Of course, things couldn't be quite that easy with the archangel, however.

"But I want to sleep!" Gabriel sulked. There was a fixed bedtime for him and his mind and body were very used to sticking to it, not to mention that he liked sleeping.

"Oh alright then," Balthazar groaned and ushered Gabriel to the bedroom he had refurnished for his brother's visit. The archangel got under the covers pretty much instantly, looking up to the adult angel with a very clear demand in his expression as he scooted over a little to make place for him.

Balthazar shook his head exasperatedly but sat on the bed next to his brother, putting an arm around him. "Next time tell me not to tell you things before it's too late."

"I didn't know it would scare me so much before it did!" Gabriel insisted, cuddling up to the adult and wrapping an arm around his middle to make sure he had to stay with him.

"There is nothing in existence you would even have to be afraid of, Gabriel," Balthazar stated seriously after the archangel had settled down a little. Okay, he had made a mistake by underestimating how intense the story he had told him was to an eleven year old and now he had to cut his losses and try for damage control.

"Because I'm an archangel?" the boy asked with a frown. That was one explanation he wasn't sure he could believe. He knew that all the other archangels there had been had been killed or imprisoned, so it wasn't like nothing could happen to him. It wasn't something he thought about often, but it was a fact that there were a couple of things that could hurt him.

"No, because whatever wants to get to you would have to go through me first," the blonde angel replied, stroking his brother's back with the arm he had around him, "And through Castiel and through Dean and Bobby and Jody and probably even Crowley and even if all of us failed, your dad would take down anything and everything for you."

Gabriel looked up at his brother with big eyes and tightened his grip on him a little before he relaxed and closed his eyes.

* * *

_From what you've told me you didn't have a single nightmare that night. Looks like even bad dreams that want to get to you have to get through Balthazar first… even if he was the one whose fault it would have been had you had any in the first place._


	36. Chapter 36

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Keefer, CassXDeano, Maddy Love Castiel, Avalonemyst, kb18142, RachelPhobia, Nyx Ro, DjinnAtwood, CherylB1964, starshaker, Pizzapig, FireChildSlytherin5 and SARA1988 for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

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**36**

_May 18th, 2022_

_You know, Gabe, sometimes it seems like only just yesterday that it was only me and Dean and whatever crisis there was to deal with. Then it was you and me and completely different challenges. Now it's you, me and Val and… Yeah, I'm actually going somewhere with this…_

* * *

"There's something we'd like to talk to you about," Sam started with a small smile, putting the few cards he hadn't managed to get rid of on the table. The three of them had only just finished playing a game of Cheat, which was quickly becoming one of Gabriel's favorite games.

Valerie nodded, gathering the cards together to put them back into their box. Knowing their little family there was no reason to fear that the talk wouldn't go over well, but given the subject she couldn't help but feel a little anxious. The blonde woman gave her step-son a reassuring smile, anyway.

"I didn't do it!" Gabriel insisted, "And if I did it, I did it because uncle Dean or Balthazar allowed it!"

The younger Winchester blinked a few times. That probably was something they should get to the bottom of sooner or later as well, but for now they had something else to talk about. Chances were whatever his son had been talking about hadn't been that bad, anyway. Both Dean and Balthazar knew the limits of what they could get away with pretty well and didn't overstep their boundaries too much usually.

"Gabe, you never admit that there is something unless you are sure that your parents already caught on to it," Val advised, definitely amused, "But immediately blaming it on someone else was a good decision."

Sam looked at his wife for a moment in silence before he shook his head with a snort. That was definitely the sort of life lesson Gabriel needed. Then again, the kid was much too well behaved for a pre-teen, anyway. Not to mention that the boy knew his boundaries even better than some of his adult relatives did.

"We can talk about that later," the younger Winchester decided, "What we wanted to know was something else entirely."

The archangel nodded seriously. That would give him the chance to decide which of the few things his brother and uncle had allowed him to do lately saying that he shouldn't tell his father he would share. It wasn't always that easy to figure out which things his dad would take relatively badly, but it was safe to say that Sam loved him regardless of how often he broke rules, so that wasn't so bad.

"What do you think about having a little brother or sister?" Val asked in a gentle tone. They had talked about the matter as a couple before and had agreed that they should make a decision before nature did it for them. Granted, Sam had only turned 39 and Valerie was two years younger, so they had a couple of years. It still seemed like a good idea to start making plans before they were pressed for time.

"You're not pregnant," Gabriel replied, clearly just stating facts. The specifics of how children were conceived and born were something he didn't and didn't want to know about yet, but he knew that if a baby was on the way his mom would be carrying it and he would be able to tell. He had seen pregnant women before, even if he had never been particularly close to one, after all.

"We wanted to know what you thought about it first, Gabe," Sam explained, putting his hand on his son's shoulder, "We don't want to do something you're not completely okay with."

The archangel had been an only child for twelve years, after all. Sure, he had had Balthazar and Castiel around frequently and the three angels spoke of each other as brothers, but they had never been kids together. Besides, that he had wanted to have a mother figure around didn't necessarily mean that he wanted to have siblings, too. Actually, Sam knew what his son's best friends thought about little siblings. Gabriel had never clearly voiced his preference in that matter, however.

"I…" the archangel started before he frowned deeply and stopped speaking for a few long moments, "Can I have some time to think?"

"Sure, buddy. Take your time," Sam agreed while Val nodded. They both might have hoped for a different reaction, but it was a very reasonable request. The younger Winchester also suspected that his son only needed to clear his head a little before he could put his feelings into words and talk to them.

Gabriel hugged his father for a moment before he did the same with his mother and then disappeared into thin air.

It might have been a little unexpected, but Sam knew that the archangel had gone to visit either Bobby and Jody, Balthazar, Castiel or Dean, otherwise he would have told them where he was going to. The younger Winchester was rather positive that any of them would help Gabriel to sort out his thoughts, too.

* * *

It was a little unfortunate that the archangel had only paid attention to who he wanted to go to and had forgotten to check where exactly that would lead him. It was because of this that he was a little surprised when he landed in the middle of a maze of caves. Before Gabriel could even take his surroundings in properly his uncle ran past him.

Dean was too caught up in running away from the wendigo until he could get his hands on something he could kill the damn thing with – he had misplaced the flare gun he had brought when the monster had first attacked him unfortunately – to even fully realize what he had just seen. He came to an abrupt stop as soon as his brain caught up with his eyes and turned back to grab his nephew. Someone really should teach the kid to call ahead before he just popped in!

"Gabe, dammit, run!" Dean called. The wendigo was closing in on them and it was questionable, if the older Winchester would even reach his nephew first let alone if he could grab him, turn around again and flee in the opposite direction.

The monster pounced on the archangel too lost in its anger and bloodlust to notice that the boy in front of it wasn't just any other human. The wendigo didn't get the time to realize its mistake before it went up in flames.

"Hi uncle Dean," Gabriel said with a slightly shaky grin, turning away from the still burning remains. The reality of what he had just done hadn't fully sunk in yet, but it had clearly been an act of self-defense and the older Winchester looked nothing but relieved and rather proud.

"Hey shorty," Dean replied with a crooked smile, checking his nephew over for any injuries. It didn't look like the wendigo had managed to even touch a hair on the boy's head, however.

"Where's Cas?" the archangel asked with a frown. He had thought that his uncle would be with Castiel, so he had only focused on the older Winchester when he had transported himself to their location.

"Your brother stayed back to care for the survivors," the older Winchester explained, putting a hand on his nephew's shoulder as they went back to where the dark-haired angel was supposed to be.

"Good thing you don't want to be a hunter," Dean added after a short moment of silence, "With your talent there wouldn't be anything left for me to hunt."

Gabriel nodded with a slight chuckle. The way he stuck a bit closer to his uncle than normal was the only thing that gave away that the little fire show he had created had left a deeper impression with him. It still was pretty clear the kid wasn't cut out to be a hunter and Dean didn't want to change anything about that. He didn't want his nephew to get used to killing things any more than his younger brother did.

"I totally had the situation under control," the older Winchester spoke on to fill the silence between them and help the boy think of other things than burning monsters, "I just wanted to get some jogging in. You know, cardio training and all that shit."

This time Gabriel full on laughed.

* * *

"Alright, what brought you here?" Dean asked quite some time later after they had gotten coffee and hot chocolate from a diner and had returned to their motel room.

The hunt Gabriel had stumbled into obviously had made him forget all about the reason for his visit, but now that everything was calm again they could get to the bottom of that. Not that the older Winchester didn't want his nephew to visit them whenever he wanted, though he really should call ahead next time.

"Am I a good brother?" the archangel asked, sitting on the king sized motel room bed cross legged, looking at his uncle and brother. The boy had asked why there was only one bed when they had first entered the room and Castiel had informed him that the second one would remain unused anyway in that tone of his that could mean everything and nothing. Gabriel had only shrugged and taken the explanation.

"I don't believe there are objective criteria to measure something like that," the dark haired angel answered. He didn't think he deserved the slightly unnerved look Dean shot his way, because he hadn't been done speaking, anyway. "However, from my subjective viewpoint I can tell you that you are a very good brother."

Dean nodded, satisfied. He really hadn't been sure, if Castiel understood that his little brother only wanted to hear that he was doing everything right and that he was loved. Where the question and the sudden urge to know about his qualities as a brother came from was a mystery that still had to be solved, though.

"When I was older," Gabriel went on thoughtfully, "Was I a good older brother?"

The older Winchester had the feeling that he knew where this was going and if he was right, he would kick his brother's ass for not telling him personally, that was for sure!

"We did not know each other very well then," Castiel replied, cocking his head slightly, "I have heard others speak of you very fondly, however."

The dark-haired angel knew better than to mention how most angels had thought of Gabriel as nothing but a traitor and coward for a very long time. Before that he remembered that some other seraphs and especially the cupids had been very taken with the way the archangel had treated them and handled things in general, though.

"Alright, spit it out," Dean stated a moment later, "My brother, the bitch, is making me an uncle again without warning, isn't he?"

The older Winchester would have thought that Sam would call him personally to inform him that there was another little Winchester on the way this time around, but it didn't look like he had. All the questions the archangel had just asked suggested that a pregnancy was involved, anyway.

Gabriel shook his head, "Mom and dad only asked what I think about having a sibling. I'm not getting one, yet."

The older Winchester nodded. It made sense that his nephew wanted to talk about that then and it also made sense that Sam wouldn't have called him to tell him about that. The prospect of another baby in the family was nice, anyway. Being an uncle was among the top five of great things in Dean's life, after all.

"Alright, I don't have to kill your dad then, good to know," the older Winchester replied with a smirk before he turned more serious, "Well, what do you think about it?"

It didn't look like Gabriel was out of his mind with joy, that much was crystal clear.

"I don't know," the archangel answered with a slight pout. The more he thought about it, the more confused he got, actually. He knew that he didn't hate the thought of little siblings as much as his two best friends did, but he had never given having one much thought before. It would be a big change in his life though, so he really should take time to think about it.

"Hey, believe me, when they're going to take your little brother or sister home for the first time you'll probably secretly think that another puppy would have been cooler, but when they first look at you you'll forget all about that," Dean tried to reassure his nephew. Sure, Gabriel had been an only child for a very long time, but the older Winchester didn't doubt that he could find a place in his heart for a sibling. The kid probably had to really wrap his mind around the idea first, though.

"But what if I suck as a big brother?" the archangel asked nearly in a whisper. That was his biggest fear, really. He had had his bigger brothers around and they had been nothing but great, just like everyone else in the family, what if he wouldn't be able to live up to their example?

"Brother, nobody would have thought that Balthazar or I would make good bigger brothers," Castiel spoke before Dean could think of something good to say to that, "But we loved you too much to fail and I am sure that you will rise to the occasion, as well."

Gabriel looked at his dark-haired brother surprised for a moment before he nodded seriously. He wasn't worried that he couldn't love a little sibling, if that was what he needed to be a good brother then he was sure he could do that, too.

"And if you're unsure, ask me," Dean added with a self-assured smile, "I know all about being an awesome bigger brother!"

The archangel chuckled and drank the last of his hot chocolate. Right, he could always ask his brothers or his uncle if he needed advice, too. He really should have thought of that by himself earlier. He had always been able to come to one of them for everything before, too.

"I want a little brother," Gabriel decided, "Or a little sister."

Thinking about it, both would be okay with him. He liked Toshio and Sophie alike, after all. There was no reason why a brother would be better than a sister. He'd just have to make sure that he taught them how to be cool and enjoy the right things just like his uncle had done with him.

"Hey, if you're lucky you get someone like Sammy, then you'll have both in one," Dean grinned, rolling his eyes when both angels tilted their heads in confusion.

"I don't believe Sam is a hermaphrodite," Castiel pointed out with a frown.

"Cas, how often do I have to joke about Sammy being a girl before you get it?" the older Winchester groaned. At least, Gabriel finally understood what he had meant to say, even if he obviously didn't think it was all that funny.

* * *

_I am not completely sure what Dean and Castiel told you, but I know that you came back announcing that you really wanted to be a big brother... and that you killed a wendigo. One of those things made me really happy. I bet you can figure out which one._

* * *

_**Author's note:** _Okay, this far my favorite names for the little sibling Gabe is going to have eventually are Emma, Laura or Paula... thoughts?_  
_


	37. Chapter 37

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, L. Greene, Keefer, Miahbug, ElcaBubble, MishaIsMyCastiel, musicfiend2392, Avalonemyst, kb18142, Pizzapig, SARA1988, CherylB1964 and RachelPhobia for last chapter's reviews.**  
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**37**

_August 7th, 2022_

_Grandpa Bobby is taking you fishing today. I'm not really convinced that you're going to like it, but maybe you'll surprise me. You tend to do that, after all._

* * *

"Now we wait," Bobby told his grandson after they both had prepared their fishing hooks and had lowered them into the water.

The two of them had found a good place right next to the water under the shade of a big tree where they had put down their things. Jody had had the good sense to pack a picnic basket for them. She had been at least as skeptical as Sam that fishing was the right thing for the archangel, but she thought that as long as there were a lot of sweets involved he'd stay content enough.

"And?" Gabriel asked with a slight frown, looking up to his grandfather expectantly. Of course, they had to wait for a fish to bite, but they surely would do something else while they waited, wouldn't they?

"And nothing. We just wait," Bobby replied calmly, leaning back a little to get more comfortable while they simply watched the water.

"That's lame," Gabriel commented, obviously not very pleased with their plan for the afternoon. Usually, when one of his relatives was taking him somewhere a lot of activity was involved, or at least talking or listening to music or something like that.

"It's time you learned some patience, boy," his grandfather pointed out casually. The kid was twelve years old, he should be able to just sit there in relative silence for a while. Bobby didn't really expect that Gabriel would make this easy for him, though.

"I can be very patient," the archangel nearly pouted, "I wait for my birthday and for Christmas and for Halloween all the time!"

All those things only happened once a year, so he had to wait the entire time and he wasn't bitching and moaning about it all too much. That had to count for something! Not to mention all the times he had to wait for the baking to be done before he could eat something. Gabriel was pretty convinced that he had the patience of a saint.

"How about waiting for things when you don't know when they'll happen?" Bobby asked with a slight smirk.

"That just sucks," Gabriel answered without missing a beat. Knowing when something was going to happen, or at least having an idea how long you'd have to wait, were the only things that made waiting bearable! He had the sinking feeling that there was nothing that would tell them when or if a fish would bite and that his grandfather didn't plan to do anything to entertain him in the meantime, though.

"So, we're going to practice that," Bobby said with a definite nod. He wasn't going to admit that this was more a test to see how long the boy would be able to just keep quiet and wait. It was something that didn't seem to be in Gabriel's nature – given the person he used to be that was no big surprise – so this could turn out to be quite the challenge. The older hunter had always thought that finding things that would be a challenge for your kids should be a part of their upbringing, anyway.

The archangel frowned and leaned back against the tree next to his grandfather. His first impulse had been to protest and possibly demand that they should do something else, but he knew that look on the adult's face that said that he had made up his mind about this and there was no use discussing. He also thought that he should just prove that he could be very patient, so his grandfather wouldn't decide that they needed to practice more often. It wasn't easy, however.

Bobby had to say that he was impressed. He had fully expected the boy to try to distract or annoy him to get him to change his plans, but he was just sitting there quietly, looking bored. Of course, most of the time Gabriel got whatever he wanted from them simply by looking like he wasn't completely happy. Maybe it wasn't fair to break with habits they all had allowed the archangel to get used to all of a sudden, but he was going to be a teenager soon and it might just be the right time to start treating him more like an adult little by little.

"What are we going to do when we catch a fish?" Gabriel asked in a silent tone after a couple of minutes of complete silence. The question might not have come up before they actually had a fish on the hook, if the boy hadn't had so much time to just think.

"What do you think?" Bobby replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Hell no!" the archangel exclaimed as soon as that little piece of information had sunk in. He quickly stood up and took both fishing rods away from the water. They could talk about it after he had made sure that no fish with extremely bad timing would bite.

"Gabe, what do you think where fish sticks come from?" the older hunter wanted to know. He really didn't think that nobody had ever told the kid that the meat he ate came from actual living and breathing creatures, but it looked like a living fish and the fish he ate were two things he kept very firmly separated in his mind.

"But… they're already dead when I get them," Gabriel insisted stubbornly. That little fact made all the difference to him, it proved his grandfather's suspicions about the way he viewed these things right, though. Not that there was anything wrong with that necessarily.

"Hate to break it to you kid, but they don't start out dead, either," Bobby pointed out.

"Are you trying to turn me into a vegetarian?" the archangel full on pouted, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He wasn't quite sure if that lifestyle would work for him. On the one hand the cakes and pies he loved most would work with a vegetarian diet, on the other hand most of the normal lunch or dinner things wouldn't. Sure, he knew that there was alternate food that was meant to be just as good – Sophie's uncle insisted on that, anyway – but he couldn't quite imagine changing his diet that dramatically.

"Hell no," the older hunter replied immediately, "I just think a man should know what he's eating and then he can make an informed decision."

Gabriel looked deep in thought for a few long moments. He knew for sure that he didn't want to kill any fish or anything else. He'd probably have to talk to his father when he got home. His grandfather often confused him a little, but his dad was great at helping him to sort out his thoughts again.

"Alright, enough of the ethical discussions for today," Bobby stated after he had given the boy some time to let everything they had just talked about sink in. The older hunter opened the picnic basket and got a piece of fabric out, passing it over to the archangel.

Gabriel grinned when he unfolded the item and realized that his grandfather had brought his swimming trunks for him. They definitely were done with the fishing then. The only fish the archangel was going to see were those that didn't flee immediately when he got into the water and he had no intention of catching one of them.

* * *

"Can we stop at Rosie's?" Gabriel asked hours later when they were on their way back home. They had had snacks earlier and the archangel wasn't all too hungry, but he wanted to go to the diner, anyway.

Bobby considered the request for a moment, but in the end he didn't see a reason not to give in. He hadn't promised to bring the kid back for dinner which meant his parents weren't waiting for him and he couldn't spoil his appetite for some home cooked meal.

Just a minute later they walked into the diner and took a seat next to one of the windows overlooking the parking lot.

"What can I get you?" the waitress asked after giving them a little time to look at the menu.

The look on the archangel's face told Bobby that he was up to something. It was a safe bet that whatever the kid wanted to do here wouldn't be too much out of line though, so the older hunter only watched.

"I'd like a hamburger," Gabriel replied, looking at the woman with big eyes to make sure he got her full attention, "But I have a question first."

He had given the entire meat eating thing some more thoughts and had decided for himself that he would not be a vegetarian for the moment being, but that didn't mean that he didn't care about the animals at all.

"Alright, shoot," the waitress replied with a slightly amused smile. Chances were he just wanted to know if there were tomatoes on the burgers or something alike, but he looked like whatever question he wanted to ask meant a lot to him.

"Did the cows you used for the burgers live happy and fulfilling lives?" Gabriel asked curiously. Eating animals that had a good life wouldn't be too bad, he figured. In the end, the human body had been made to ingest meat among other things and animals had been made in a way that they could be eaten by humans, so that probably was okay. The archangel was willing to believe so until someone else prove him wrong, anyway.

"Of course, sweetheart," the woman replied as seriously as she could. That was a question she didn't hear every other day.

"That's okay then," Gabriel grinned, "I want that hamburger with fries."

Bobby shook his head fondly before he ordered his own meal.

* * *

"Third call from room 24," Valerie huffed, leaning against her husband as she finished telling him the tale of one of the stupider guests she had had to deal with lately, "He wants more towels again."

She really loved her job most of the time, but every now and then you just got a guest who was more annoying than most. Of course, it wasn't always possible to understand what strange requests really were about, especially not when people refused to give you the information you needed to get it.

"Someone's got the hots for the beautiful girl at the reception desk," Sam grinned, kissing her cheek, "I hear she's married, though."

The two of them had decided to take the time while Gabriel was gone to just cuddle on the couch and talk about the day they had had. Of course, they could have done that with the archangel around as well, but the entire atmosphere in the house was somewhat calmer without the little whirlwind.

Cookie was lounging next to them, only raising his head every now and then. Given the dog's age it was a miracle that he did anything other than sleeping all day long, but as soon as Gabriel was around he usually was all too willing to play with the boy. Sam couldn't help thinking that something not entirely natural was going on there, but he couldn't blame his son for not wanting to lose his oldest friend and Cookie didn't seem unhappy in the slightest, anyway.

"No worries, Mr. Winchester. He really was only interested in my towels," Val chuckled, "Turns out he – for some reason – tried to flush a pair of boxer shorts down the toilet and the thing was overflowing. He didn't want to bother us and tried to repair it himself, though."

If the guy had been honest from the start she could have called the maintenance guy or handed him the right tools and the entire situation could have been resolved much quicker. Of course, that wouldn't have made for a story to tell back at home, though.

"Way back when I was still driving cross country with Dean," Sam started his own story, wrapping his arm around his wife a little tighter, "The girl from reception came knocking and Dean being Dean cranked up the charm to eleven. She only wanted to inform us that there had been an incident with an overflowing bathtub upstairs and there was a chance that some water might come through the ceiling. Dean's face was priceless."

Valerie had no problems imagining her brother in law's reaction to being blown off like that. From what she had seen being rejected was something the older Winchester couldn't deal with all too well. It was good for him that Castiel didn't seem inclined to refuse anything as long as Dean was the one suggesting it.

A few minutes later there was a knock at the door, signaling Gabriel's return.

"Any luck with the fishing?" Sam asked as soon as he let his son and father figure in.

"Nope," the archangel replied, shaking his head for emphasis, "I'm not killing any fish."

The younger Winchester nodded, looking at Bobby to see if there was more to the story. The older hunter's pointed look didn't exactly tell him a lot more than that there was something, though. However, Gabriel never was one not to share his thoughts and feelings with his family, so Sam didn't have to wonder for long.

"I'm only eating happy cows and pigs and chicken from now on, too," the boy added so seriously that his father had to try really hard not to laugh.

Sam had tried to buy mostly organic food ever since he could choose to do so, so they wouldn't have to change too much about their lifestyle, anyway. He'd still have to ask what exactly had brought this on. Their fishing trip had obviously taken an unforeseen turn at some point.

"What about happy fish?" Val asked from behind her husband. To her surprise Gabriel didn't have a witty comeback and just continued to look at her like she had just grown a second head. Granted, the question hadn't been highly intellectual or even all too serious, but she hadn't thought it had been quite that bad.

"I'm going to have a little sister," Gabriel whispered so silently that even the two men standing closest to him barely heard it. He quickly got over the first surprise and ran up to his mother, hugging her tightly while exclaiming, "I'm going to have a little sister!"

All the adults were frozen for a few long moments. They all had learned to expect the unexpected over time, but this had still caught them unprepared. It made sense that the archangel would be able to sense things like that, though.

"I'll be damned," Bobby was the first who spoke, patting the younger Winchester's back, "Congratulations."

"Are you sure?" Val asked, emotion making it hard to speak as she hugged the boy back.

Gabriel only nodded with a huge grin on his face. He hadn't seen her before she had left for work in the morning and the other day he hadn't been able to tell. If he thought about it, something had been a little different about her, however. When he had laid eyes on Val just a minute ago he had simply known what was going on. No mistakes possible.

"We're going to have a baby girl," Sam stated in wonder, hugging his little family tight. It'd probably take a while before the news sunk in completely, but there was no doubt whatsoever that they all were happy about it.

* * *

_I just informed uncle Dean that he'll have to sleep on the couch when he comes to visit in the future. We'll have to make a nursery out of the guest room. How much pink can your uncle take before he throws a fit, what do you think?_


	38. Chapter 38

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, midnight0211, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, Avalonemyst, kb18142, Keefer, CassXDeano, CherylB1964, starshaker, Pizzapig, SARA1988 and Miahbug for last chapter's reviews! You guys are awesome! :-D**  
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**38**

_December 25th, 2022_

_Jody promised that she made sure to buy a happy turkey for our Christmas dinner and Bobby carved smiley faces into a few of the potatoes. I would say that your grandpa is clearly getting old, but I'm afraid he'll kick my ass if I do._

* * *

"I am trying really hard to hate you here," Val stated without any heat as she got more comfortable on Bobby's couch. Her feet had grown at least half a shoe size in the past weeks and were hurting severely, but she hadn't even gotten to throw a really nasty glare at her husband before he had already pulled her feet into his lap and had started to massage them.

"Awww, am I making that difficult for you?" Sam smirked, obviously very pleased with himself, "You still have a couple of months to yell at me for doing this to you."

Between the two of them the younger Winchester was the one who went through the pregnancy books and took notes on what they had to expect, so hardly anything could surprise him. This far the pregnancy had been perfectly normal and blissfully uneventful. It wasn't that unlikely that Gabriel had something to do with that, though. The first morning Val had complained about morning sickness had been the last, as well.

"Could you two be any more sickenly sweet?" Dean commented with an exaggerated groan, "It's Christmas. We came here for the presents, the food and the arguments."

Castiel was clearly about to say something to that, but the older Winchester pushed a cup with eggnog into his hands before he could do it. The dark-haired angel raised an eyebrow, but kept quiet. Dean had this way of giving him little hints when he was taking things too seriously again and Castiel had learned to recognize those hints most of the time.

"And the alcohol," Balthazar said instead, raising his wine glass for emphasis, "Imagine how much harder it would be to stand the lot of you without it! Radiant mothers-to-be and amazing little brothers excluded, of course."

Gabriel hadn't even paid attention to what his brother had said first, but he was pleased to know that an exception was being made for him, anyway. He didn't abandon his mission to sort the presents under the tree by the name of the person they were for, however. That should assure easier and quicker access later when they were actually allowed to open them. In theory, the archangel had enough patience to wait until after dinner and only then search for the presents that were for him, but the present sorting was something he had done for years, so it counted as a tradition.

"There isn't enough booze in the world to make you look as charming as you think you are," Dean snorted and got a deep chuckle out of Castiel with it. It wasn't easy to predict what jokes the angel would understand and even harder to figure out which ones he would think were funny, so the older Winchester was very pleased whenever he found another one of those.

"There once was, but a lot of women needed most of it to make you look like a suitable bed partner," Balthazar shot back with a smug grin.

The archangel pulled a face, sitting next to his mother and father on the couch. He had asked a few more in-depth questions about the birds and the bees after they had found out that Val was pregnant and while his dad had been careful about what he had told him the entire thing held a very high squick-factor for him. Boys weren't yucky and girls weren't either, but the stuff they did with each other when they had reached a reasonable age definitely was!

The older Winchester glared at the blonde angel while Balthazar only looked back smugly. Everyone knew that those two would defend each other to the death just as readily as they would everyone else in the family, but their personalities – which were actually rather similar in some things – clashed every time they saw each other. Sam had suspected that they both really just enjoyed bickering like a bunch of immature brats for a long time, however.

"A wise man once said," Castiel suddenly threw in his two cents, "We came here for the arguments."

Valerie couldn't help laughing at that. It might not have been the best joke ever, but the way the angel said it completely seriously and without a hint of humor just sold it. After she had managed to calm down again she finally pulled her legs away from her husband's lap and sat upright. Dinner probably was nearly done and they would move to the dining room soon. Besides, the relaxed and comfortable position had only made her sleepy.

"You know, at this point my daughter can hear you," Sam pointed out, "She's going to be born already knowing that uncle Dean and uncle Balthazar are bickering like an old married couple every time they are in a room together."

Gabriel nodded along with what his father was saying. He wasn't reading the pregnancy books, but he let his dad tell him the most important things about the stage of development his little sister was in every week. He was already trying to make sure that she would know his voice by talking to his mom's tummy ever so often, telling her nice little stories and making promises about the cool things he'd teach her once she was born.

"But it's really uncle Dean and Cas who are an old married couple," Gabriel spoke toward Valerie's baby bump, putting his hand on it to feel more like he was talking to his sister. He knew that his mother was often telling people to please back off when they were trying to touch her, but he and Sam were allowed to whenever they wanted.

"Woah," Val exclaimed a moment later, taking her husband's hand and putting it on her belly next to Gabriel's, "She just kicked."

Sure enough there was another kick close to where she had felt the first one. Sam's eyes widened nearly comically before he leaned in to kiss his wife.

In the meantime Gabriel ran off toward the kitchen to tell Bobby and Jody. When he returned a minute later he was still grinning from ear to ear and also brought the news that dinner was ready and they should gather around the table.

* * *

"I have been advised to give more personal gifts this year," Castiel explained to Dean when he got a chance to speak to the hunter without everyone else listening to their conversation. He had the feeling that the older Winchester wouldn't appreciate making a big show out of this.

"What? No Walmart gift card this year?" Dean joked, nudging Cas with his elbow. He knew that the angel hadn't had much time to think about the presents he wanted to get them the previous year and thus had gotten all of them gift cards for shops he knew they went to regularly.

Castiel didn't say anything and simply handed a small box to the older Winchester. The present had cost him a lot of time and ultimately money. Not that the angel had to consider the monetary factor. In theory he had access to a basically unlimited amount of it, after all.

Dean raised an eyebrow, but opened the box revealing something that made him smile immediately. The older Winchester grabbed the leather cord and put the amulet around his neck, patting Cas' shoulder gratefully.

"You made a duplicate?" Dean asked.

"I found the original," Castiel replied with a frown. The thought of getting a replacement instead of the original had never occurred to him. He had wanted to give something to the older Winchester he knew would mean a lot to him. Thoughts of the amulet his younger brother had given to him for Christmas many years ago and that he had thrown away after finding out that it wouldn't help them to track down God had crossed Dean's mind again and again over the years, so the angel had figured that if there was a perfect gift, this would be it.

The older Winchester swallowed heavily and pulled Castiel into his arms, hugging the life out of him without thinking about it for a second. Damned, if he wasn't the luckiest guy on Earth.

"Hey Sammy, look what Cas got me!" Dean yelled a few long moments later, taking off toward his younger brother to show him the best present he had gotten in his life, even if he had gotten it for the second time.

The dark-haired angel just looked after the hunter with a happy smile on his lips. It seemed like he had done something completely right for once and it definitely was a wonderful feeling.

At the other side of the room Gabriel was putting his new car racing track together with the help of his grandfather. The one he had had before had stopped working some time ago and this one was bigger and better, anyway.

The archangel took one of the cars that came with the toy out of the box and looked at it critically. The two toys were red and yellow, even though the boy knew for a fact that cool cars had to be black.

"Do you think I can…? Would it be bad, if I…?" Gabriel asked his grandfather in a quiet tone. He didn't want to break any rules or hurt anyone's feelings, but the cars just weren't as cool as they could have been.

"It's your present, knock yourself out," Bobby replied with a shrug. He thought he had a pretty good idea what the boy wanted to do and he surely didn't mind if he gave the toys a new look. Hell, if getting a toy Impala for the track had been an option Bobby and Jody would have gone for it to begin with.

The archangel smiled widely and concentrated on the two cars for a few moments until he was sure he had given them the form he wanted. Playing with a miniature of his uncle's Impala and the Dodge Charger his father drove just sounded like more fun than using the generic toy cars every other kid had, too.

It had to be expected that Dean would show a great interest in the car racing track as well, especially after the Impala had gotten involved. Sam watched the two other Winchester males play for a little while before he turned back to his wife, taking her hand and leading her to another room and handed an envelope to her.

"What is it?" Val asked with a slight frown before she even unfolded the papers inside. Sure, she might have waited another moment and taken a good look first, but she had no idea what this could be, so the question had just slipped out.

"Adoption papers," Sam explained, smiling a little awkwardly, "For Gabe… if you want."

He had had to wait for a moment when everyone else was distracted to drop that bomb in case she wanted to think about it first or wasn't ready for this at all. Gabriel shouldn't have to hear, if anything like that happened. The younger Winchester had thought about this for quite some time and he knew that his son would be completely on board with the idea. He was pretty sure that his wife would be, too. Still, it had seemed better to take her aside and keep it between the two of them until he knew for sure.

Tears sprung to Valerie's eye, making it impossible for her to speak around the lump in her throat. Sam had his arms around her immediately, stroking her back as he made soothing noises. He only had to wonder if this was a good or a bad sign for a moment before she nodded vehemently against his chest.

"Yes?" the younger Winchester asked, the smile evident in his tone.

"Yes," Val confirmed in a choked up tone, "Damn hormones."

She wasn't sure if she could blame this completely on her pregnancy, but it was a damn good excuse for most things these days. She had to admit that being emotional wasn't a completely new thing, though.

"I guess that's my fault now," Sam stated in a mostly faked resigned tone. She hadn't blamed him for any of her pregnancy related symptoms, yet. But as often as she brought these things up jokingly, the younger Winchester couldn't helping wondering, if she was really going to yell at him for ever putting her into this situation when the contractions set in. They'd have to cross that bridge when they came to it, which should have been sometime around the end of March.

"Whose else?" Val chuckled, hitting her husband's chest with her palm lightly, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Sam replied, cupping her face in his hands before he leaned in to kiss her deeply. They got to make out like the teenagers they had been quite some time ago for about three more minutes before Gabriel announced that Dean wanted to challenge his younger brother to a car race. Even if they only were models, he wanted to prove that the Impala was a thousand times better than the Charger and that he was the better driver once and for all.

Valerie watched how the brothers got their little tournament over with and how – with the help of some misuse of heavenly powers – Gabriel and Balthazar conjured up two more model cars, so they could join the race.

"It took me years to understand what makes so many seemingly banal things so special to humans," Castiel stated seriously, standing next to the blonde woman, his hands in the pockets of his trenchcoat. He simply hadn't seen the point in taking it off. It wasn't like he could get too warm or too cold and he was used to wearing it wherever he went.

"You seem to see, hear or even taste and smell things that give them strong emotional reactions all the time and when they are positive you search them out again," the angel added a moment later, "Traditions are born that way, I believe."

"Are you saying you don't have that sort of emotion?" Val frowned, rubbing her palm over her baby bump absentmindedly. They had waited for the baby to start kicking for some time and now that she had it looked like she didn't want to settle down again.

"It's not something that comes to us naturally," Castiel nodded slightly, before he looked at his little brother and amended, "To most of us."

Valerie wasn't quite sure what to say to that. Hell, she wasn't even sure why the angel was telling her these things. Maybe he just wanted to talk and this was something that counted as small-talk in his opinion.

"I have learned to allow all those emotions, but they are still very perplexing sometimes, even after all those years," the dark-haired angel admitted before he added the reason for this little confession, "For instance, I really don't understand why I have the strong urge to… feel your unborn daughter kick."

He also didn't comprehend why Val started to chuckle right after hearing that, but it didn't seem like a bad response to his request and that clearly was a good sign.

"Oh, alright," she nodded, taking the angel's hand and placing it on the area where she had felt the last few kicks. The completely enraptured expression on Castiel's face let her know that she had made the right decision.

* * *

_Next year at this time we're going to have another little Winchester around. I think we're going to need a bigger tree to fit all the presents underneath then._


	39. Chapter 39

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, FireChildSlytherin5, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, kb18142, Nyx Ro, Pizzapig, CherylB1964, starshaker, MishaIsMyCastiel and RachelPhobia for last chapter's reviews!

Thanks so much for sticking with the story!**  
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**39**

_April 1st, 2023_

_I can't help thinking that it's a sign that your sister is going to be born on April Fool's Day… if she makes it out to meet us before midnight that is._

* * *

"What's taking so long?" Gabriel nearly whined, though he would deny it, if his uncle actually accused him of whining. He felt fully justified in his impatience, however.

His mother and father had dropped him off with Bobby around lunchtime saying that they would call when they knew for sure what was going to happen. Sam had called about an hour later to inform them that this time Val really had gone into labor, but that it might still take some time. Bobby had made a few calls to the other members of their family then and once Dean and Castiel had arrived – with the aid of some angel mojo – they had gone to the hospital to wait there.

"You really don't wanna know," Dean commented, leaning back in the crappy plastic chairs every other hospital waiting room seemed to have. There was no use freaking the kid out with tales of active labor, dilated cervix and all those things that made the older Winchester shudder, too.

"You don't have any kids, how do you know?" Gabriel asked suspiciously. From what he had heard – which had been enough to determine that he didn't want to hear much more – childbirth was even more yucky than sex and that meant something, though Balthazar and Dean had assured him repeatedly that he was going to change his mind about that soon enough. Yeah, right.

His uncle muttered something that sounded like 'Dr. Sexy' under his breath and stood up to stretch his legs. Then again, if this had been an episode of Dean's favorite guilty pleasure show, there would have been a lot more action and they would have probably been able to hear Val yell at Sam even in the waiting room. Actually, for all the older Winchester knew the baby was quite big – definitely her father's child – so it was a miracle they didn't hear anything.

"Uncle Dean?" the archangel asked in a really small voice for a thirteen year old, "Everything's okay with them, right?"

In the past weeks he and his two friends had talked about childbirth quite a lot. The topic had been on their minds for obvious reasons and in cases like that they always sat together discussing everything they knew and a lot of things they had figured out on their own. Everything they had seen and heard from TV shows and comic books wasn't exactly reassuring, though. Having a baby seemed to be extremely painful and the number of orphans or half-orphans in those stories was a bad sign, too. Sophie had reasoned that it couldn't be too common for mothers to die, because there would be far less women in the world and lots of families had more than one kid and that meant they had to survive. Not to mention that she and Toshio had their mothers around and most kids in their class did, too.

For once Toshio hadn't even argued and had only admitted that she had a good point and that meant he really had to be convinced that the girl was being completely logical. He always was the first one to point out when Sophie used her very active imagination where she should be using logic and facts. Besides, everyone knew that you couldn't believe everything you saw on TV, anyway.

The archangel had been content enough with the conclusion they had reached until a few minutes ago when those fears about something going wrong had reared their ugly head again.

"Hey, buddy," the older Winchester replied in a soothing tone, immediately sitting down next to his nephew and putting a hand on his shoulder, "'Course everything's fine with all of them. Your dad would immediately call you, Cas or Balthazar for help, if anything was going wrong, you know that."

Dean wasn't quite sure where the blonde angel was, but Castiel had only gone to the gift shop to see if he could find anything fitting the occasion there. That he had been gone for over half an hour didn't have to mean anything. The older Winchester had taken the dark-haired angel to enough shops to know that he could very easily lose himself looking at all the things on display. A gift shop would be even worse than most places they normally went to, as well. A lot of the things they sold there wouldn't exactly have a purpose Castiel would be able to understand. Thinking about it like that, Dean wished that he could listen in to the conversation the angel was most likely having with another patron or a shop assistant this very moment.

"I'm sure your sister is just lazy and doesn't want to move," the older Winchester added, nudging his nephew with his elbow. Besides, the four hours they had spent in the waiting room, plus the five hours before that when they had still been at Bobby's, might seem endlessly long for a teenager, but Dean didn't think that it was extraordinarily long considering the circumstances.

Gabriel nodded. All that sounded convincing and very logical. The archangel was sure he could have told, if his father was distressed. He still moved closer to his uncle and hugged his middle for comfort.

"I may have been rooting for the Neanderthals initially, but it is doubtful that they would have ever been able to come up with something like this," Castiel stated, delight apparent in his voice as he held out the bunch of – admittedly nice looking – plastic flowers with fairy lights included.

"It also plays music," the angel added with a smile, pressing a hidden button. Unfortunately none of the things for sale had had the kind of music Dean preferred included, but the way the human started to laugh when he heard the chorus to 'be my little baby' play let Castiel know that he had made a good choice.

* * *

"I dreamed of God," Gabriel told Balthazar.

The two angels were holding the fort while Bobby, Jody, Dean and Castiel had gone to get some coffee. It was getting late and most of them could get tired, especially from waiting and being relatively inactive for hours.

"After my birthday, I dreamed he talked to me," the archangel added, looking at his older brother to gauge his reaction. It didn't look like Balthazar wanted to make a big deal out of it however, which Gabriel was grateful for.

"Did he at least tell you to say hi to the rest of us?" the adult angel joked, pushing the stupid 'it's a girl' balloon Castiel had bought earlier and that kept floating toward him aside once more.

The teenager shook his head, "He just asked how I was doing and if I was happy."

It had been a strange dream. All he had seen were bright lights and the voice he had heard hadn't been so much a voice as a booming noise that he could understand for some reason. Of course, Gabriel knew that angels in their true forms didn't look like their vessels, he got a glimpse of their real forms whenever he looked at them, after all. It still had been strange to talk to this disembodied entity. Not to mention that he hadn't really known what to say other than that he was in fact doing really good and that he was very happy.

"He kept calling me son, so I told him that I already had a dad," Gabriel shrugged, "But he could be my maker or creator, if he wanted."

He had been glad that God had understood that he didn't mean to offend or rebuff him. The archangel had only tried to give him a place in his life that felt right and the role as a second father just wasn't it. A father wasn't only someone who knew stuff about you and watched you. A father was someone who cuddled you when you got scared and who laughed with you when you were happy and who made a bunch of rules for your own good but never stopped loving you even if you broke them, after all.

"Brother, every time I think you can't get any more brilliant you do something to prove me wrong," Balthazar laughed, wrapping his arm around his little brother's shoulders and squeezing. Of course, if anyone would use the first time God had spoken to anyone other than Joshua in ages to tell the old guy off, it would be Gabriel.

It was then that the door opened and Sam came outside, smiling when he spotted his son.

"Do you want to meet your sister?" the younger Winchester asked. He didn't have to wait longer than a second until Gabriel already was at his side, nearly bursting with excitement.

Balthazar stayed back, promising to inform the others. The little family probably needed some time just for themselves, anyway.

"Emma Mary Winchester," Sam said as soon as they had entered the room where Valerie was holding a pink bundle that didn't look much like a little human until Gabriel got close enough to see her face.

"She's so little," the archangel nearly whispered in wonder, extending his arm toward the baby but not quite daring to actually touch her.

Generally speaking, their daughter wasn't exactly little for a newborn, but of course she would seem tiny to her older brother. Val smiled tiredly and looked at her husband. After more than ten hours of labor she didn't exactly feel like making any decisions or doing any thinking. As far as Valerie was concerned Sam could take over for the next couple of hours in the very least.

"Do you want to hold her?" the younger Winchester suggested, carefully taking the baby from his wife. Emma seemed to be at least as tired as her mother and only scrunched up her face slightly for a moment.

Gabriel gulped but nodded, sitting down on another plastic chair. He had never had the opportunity to hold a baby, let alone a newborn before, but it seemed like a safe guess that sitting would make that easier.

Sam gave his son a few instructions about how to support his sister's head and how to best cradle her tiny body before he let go completely. He took his place next to Val, stroking her neck gently while they both looked at the picture their two kids made.

The archangel just looked at his baby sister for some time until he was sure enough that he had a good grip on her and dared to stroke her cheek with a single finger. "I've been talking to you while you were still inside mom's belly, remember?"

Emma's baby blue eyes opened at that, startling Gabriel.

"Don't cry. Please, don't cry," the archangel whispered, still touching his sister's face softly. He didn't get a feeling like she was about to complain though, so that was something. Instead she closed her eyes again and Gabriel sighed relieved, allowing his father to take the infant from him again. The archangel waited for a few moments and then sat on the edge of his mother's bed to be closer to her and the baby. Holding her for a short time might have been enough of a challenge to start with, but the teenager still felt a strong pull toward his sister. There was no room for doubt that taking her home with them would be nothing but great, he'd only have to make Cookie believe that having one more person around would be good.

They got a few more silent moments just between the four of them before Dean opened the door slightly, peeking in to see if they were disturbing anything important. Sam shook his head, smiling and waved his older brother inside. To be honest, he might have forgotten for a few minutes that the rest of the family was still waiting outside. Chances were they all wanted to at least see Emma for a minute before they went home.

"I could have waited, but you know how impatient Cas can get," the older Winchester stated seriously.

"I can assure you that the waiting time did not bother me," Castiel immediately objected, holding the bouquet of plastic flowers he had bought while the balloon bounced up and down over his head with every gesture he made.

"Don't lie, Cassy. I can remember you complaining about not even being able to go get some pie and coffee, because you might miss the right moment to come meet your niece! Oh wait…" Balthazar said in a mocking tone, clearly looking at the older Winchester.

"Idjits," Bobby commented before the two morons could seriously start an argument right there in the hospital room, hitting them both on the back of their heads with the palms of his hands.

Jody only shook her head disapprovingly before she made her way to Val and the baby. "How are you doing?"

"Good, actually really good, but I guess whatever drugs they gave me have something to do with that," Valerie replied with a tired smile, rearranging the baby in her arms slightly so the sheriff could take a better look.

"She's really pretty. Clearly a Winchester," Dean commented, smiling at his sister in law, "Well done!"

It was a sign of pure goodwill that Balthazar chose not to comment on that. Goodwill and the fact that he didn't know how to work in a 'despite being a Winchester' without insulting Gabriel with it, as well. Insulting him or drawing unwanted attention to the fact that the archangel wasn't a born Winchester.

"He helped a little," Val admitted, giving her husband a short, loving look.

Sam nodded and then waited until she was looking away again before he pulled up the sleeve of his pullover to reveal the scratch marks his wife had put there during the most painful part of the birth. Not that he really blamed her for that. Emma really was a big newborn.

"I have been told it is customary to bring gifts," Castiel finally stated, offering the bouquet and balloon he had bought from the gift shop, both of which were placed on the bedside table by the younger Winchester. That left the angel with the perfect opportunity to put his hand against Val's forehead for a moment, lifting most of the residual aches and making sure there wouldn't be any complications whatsoever.

It was only a few minutes later that they all agreed that they should let mother and child catch some much needed rest, so it was really uncalled for of the nurse to walk in and glare at all of them, clearly intending to scold them for disregarding the 'three people at a time at most' rule they had been told about earlier. She didn't even get a word out before Balthazar waved his hand in front of her face showily, however.

"These are not the relatives you are looking for," the angel said with a completely straight face, touching her forehead with two fingers for a moment. The nurse immediately turned around and closed the door behind herself quietly.

"I hate to admit it," Dean snorted, "But that was cool."

* * *

_The two of us ended the day with looking at your baby pictures again. I'm pretty sure you already lost your heart to your sister. At least, I never heard you say that any baby might possibly be a tiny little bit cuter than you were before._


	40. Chapter 40

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, Shorty22133, Avalonemyst, kb18142, DjinnAtwood, RachelPhobia, Pizzapig, CassXDeano and CherylB1964 for last chapter's reviews!

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**40**

_April 13th, 2023_

_We moved your sister into her own room today to see if that's working for us. Val is much more relaxed about it than I am. Then again, she is in most matters._

* * *

Different sources, different opinions.

Sam wasn't new to getting a lot of different results to what should have been a simple search about something. It had been very unnerving to find lore about the monster of the week they had been hunting back in the day just to find a different story claiming that everything was exactly the other way around. Most of the time they had dealt with these things pretty well by just preparing for both scenarios or going for the one that was backed up by the more credible sources.

Having a newborn around reminded the younger Winchester a lot of these times only this time around the wellbeing of his daughter was at stake and that made him more nervous than going after a boogeyman without knowing for sure if the lark wood stake would kill it.

Different books and people had very different opinions about when a baby could or should start to sleep in their own room. Sam had read and heard everything from 'It's best to let her sleep in your bed until she's a year old' to 'Get her her own room as soon as possible, otherwise you'll only make the separation anxiety worse later on', so it wasn't exactly easy to decide what advice to follow. In the end, Sam and Valerie had decided to just set up a baby monitor and give it a try. It wasn't like they couldn't move the crib back into their bedroom as soon as it became apparent that that might be better.

The younger Winchester only managed a very light sleep that night after they had checked that everything was alright with Emma once more and had retired for the night as well. He kept expecting to hear their daughter cry over the baby monitor. It wasn't that much later until his eyes shot open when exactly that happened.

"'S okay, I'll go," Sam told his wife when she stirred, pressing a kiss against her temple.

The younger Winchester didn't even make it to his daughter's room before she abruptly stopped crying, though. Given that her room was right next to her parent's bedroom, Gabriel's being on the other side, she hadn't been crying long at all.

Sam wasn't quite sure what to make of that until he reached the open door and saw the reason for the sudden silence.

"Emma was lonely," Gabriel explained, cradling his sister to his chest, "And she is a bit hungry, too."

The younger Winchester chuckled and nodded. Well, that kept him from having to figure out what his daughter wanted with trial and error. He'd probably have guessed that she wanted to be fed early on, but it still was good to know for sure. Not to mention that his two kids just made a damn cute picture together like that.

"Alright, I'll go get a bottle then," Sam stated with a smile, "You got this?"

Gabriel nodded seriously. He had everything under control and he knew that Emma was content enough with him just holding her for now.

The past few days the archangel had gotten more and more experienced with holding his sister when one of his parents was handing her to him and he knew how to pick her up by himself, too. Actually, neither one of these things was exceptionally hard, but looking at how small and breakable Emma was it had been a little intimidating to do anything at all with her.

"I got you," Gabriel whispered to his sister, rocking her ever so slightly, "I'll always have your back. It's what big brothers do."

The archangel knew that his sister didn't exactly understand the words he was saying yet, but he felt with every fiber of his being that she had a lot of positive responses to him and that was the most important thing, anyway.

"I'll even share my two big brothers with you," Gabriel promised after thinking about it for a moment, "I'd share the others with you too, but I don't know if they're any good, yet."

There probably were a lot more awesome angels, but the archangel wasn't going to take chances here. He'd eventually get to know them and then he'd allow the best of them to have contact to his sister, too. Crowley might be allowed to visit Emma, as well. He'd have to promise to behave and not bring any gifts that weren't fully appropriate for little babies first, however.

"We'll get Cookie to like you, too," Gabriel kept on talking, because it seemed to have a calming effect on his baby sister, "You'll have to give him a little time, though. People have been very mean to him before."

The husky had been sitting in the hallway, taking a short look into the new baby's room ever so often to see how his owner was doing the entire time. He was sleeping on the carpet in the archangel's room most days and thus had been woken up when Gabriel had left his own bed to see why his sister was crying. To tell the truth, Cookie didn't mind the baby. She was much too young to be a threat and she wasn't overly loud. He was suspicious of every new member that got introduced to their pack for the principle of the thing, however. New members always meant a change in hierarchy and the way their lives worked and that forced him to get used to new things. This far he couldn't say that any of the changes had been bad on the long run, so that was something that spoke for giving the tiny human a chance.

"I'm sure dad will be back in a minute," Gabriel assured the baby in his arms when she began to make complaining noises, the hunger becoming more prominent with every passing minute. The archangel changed the way he was holding his sister so he could pet the side of her head, distracting her from her want for food a little. He was pretty sure that this didn't count as a misuse of his powers. Not that he or his brothers gave much of a damn about what they were and weren't meant to do by heavenly rules. Most of those rules were more like guidelines these days, anyway. Balthazar liked to say so and Castiel didn't object, so there probably was some truth in it.

"Do you want to feed her?" Sam asked as soon as he was back with his two kids, offering the warmed up baby's bottle to his son. He wasn't going to push any baby duties on Gabriel, but it looked like the archangel wanted to take them whenever he could and the younger Winchester wasn't going to say no to that, either. His son was old enough to decide when and if he wanted to care for his little sister, after all.

Gabriel nodded again, taking the bottle and bringing it to Emma's lips like he had seen his parents do. The infant knew what to do with it by herself and his father would tell him, if he was doing something wrong, anyway.

Sam smiled and took a seat on the small couch they had put into the nursery next to his son, wrapping an arm around Gabriel's shoulders and squeezing lightly. The teenager had been nothing but helpful and understanding ever since they had the newest addition to their family around and the younger Winchester knew that that wasn't something that could be taken for granted.

"You don't have to get up at night or feed her or do anything else you don't want to. You know that, right?" Sam asked in a silent tone just to make sure that they were on the same page here. They all might have made the decision to have a little sibling for the archangel together, but Sam and Val were the parents in the family and the two of them were adamant that Gabriel wouldn't have to shoulder any responsibilities that didn't come automatically with the age he was in.

"I wanted to," the archangel replied, looking at his father, "I woke up when Emma did and she wanted company and I wanted to let her know that she'll never have to feel lonely in this family. Like you did for me."

The younger Winchester found that he really didn't know what to say to that. He wasn't even sure, if he would have been able to get any words out, in the first place. He and his son had had too many emotional moments to count over the years, but this one had to be among the top ten. Hearing that everything Sam had ever tried to let Gabriel know with absolute certainty had left the exact intended impression with the kid was a damn good feeling.

Father and son sat in silence for a while after that until Emma was done drinking and was ready to be put into her crib again. Gabriel carefully put her back down, taking a moment to check that she was in fact warm enough, content and fast asleep. He stroked her head gently before turning back to his father who was still smiling at him.

"Come on, buddy," Sam said in a hushed tone, putting a hand on his son's shoulder, "Let's get you back to bed."

The younger Winchester knew that the archangel didn't need the sleep, but it seemed like the logical thing to suggest now that the infant was slumbering again. They might very well end up playing cards for the rest of the night, which wouldn't be completely unprecedented, however.

"I'm a teenager now," Gabriel protested weakly just for the principle of the thing. He thought he should at least draw attention to the fact that he was technically too old to be put to bed, but that didn't mean that he didn't want his dad to come along.

"You'll always be my little boy," Sam shrugged as they walked toward the archangel's room. At least, he didn't think that he'd ever be completely able to let go of the picture of the little boy who used to cling to him wherever he went. He wouldn't say that that was an entirely bad thing, however. He knew he had to let Gabriel grow up and he would do whatever he could to help with every step on the way, even if that meant sometimes standing back and not doing anything. It was a fact that would never change that the archangel was his son, his kid and Sam had often wished that his own father would have kept that in mind more firmly.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Gabriel asked in a cheeky tone, smirking. Talking back was one of the teenager things he had picked up, according to Mari. The archangel didn't think that he had changed anything about the way he talked, however. His best friend's mother probably was just overly sensitive as far as any signs of puberty were concerned ever since Toshio had decided to visit the hairdresser and get some green streaks dyed into his hair without consulting either one of his parents first. As far as Gabriel knew Toshio's parents had threatened to cut his hair off completely in reaction to that, but in the end they had settled for letting him know that they would definitely kill him, if he even dared to think about smoking a cigarette.

"A promise," the younger Winchester clarified, before he added in a teasing tone, "You brat."

He had to admit that his teenage son was the best behaved brat on the planet, however. They probably were really lucky there, too. Severe temper tantrums of an archangel might quite literally rock their world. Sam wasn't too worried that Gabriel might get too much out of control, though. He believed in his son much too firmly to think that he might grow up to be anything other than a great adult. He was a great kid already, after all.

"I'm not a brat," the archangel pouted, sitting down on his bed, "I'm an angel."

The younger Winchester hummed in agreement, pulling the blanket over his son like he had used to do every single day what seemed not too long ago. It wasn't more than a moment later that Cookie took his place on the foot end of the teenager's bed, too.

"'M gonna be too tall for you to fit there some day," Gabriel told the husky seriously, relaxing back into his pillow. The day when the dog couldn't comfortably fit in bed with him hadn't come yet, but it seemed only fair to warn the animal.

"Don't be too disappointed, if you don't end up being seven feet tall," Sam stated, petting Cookie's head for a few moments. Looking at how the archangel started to resemble his former adult self more and more each year, it seemed like a good guess that he wouldn't be much taller than he used to be when he stopped growing, either.

"I'd hit my head on doors all the time, anyway," Gabriel grinned before he asked thoughtfully, "You think I'll look like I did in my past life when I'm all grown up again?"

The younger Winchester nodded. Sure, the teenager could always wear a different haircut, change his hair color or make other modifications, but chances were that his original self would end up looking like the old Gabriel.

"Is that bad?" the archangel asked, fixing his father with his eyes so he wouldn't miss anything about his reaction.

"I don't think the girls are going to complain about it," Sam replied in a joking tone before he became more serious, "You are who you are now, not who you used to be, Gabe. Whatever you're going to look like won't change anything about that and it won't change how we look at you, either."

Gabriel nodded, sitting up to hug his father tight for a long moment.

The younger Winchester left the room a minute later. He took a last quick look at the resting form of his teenage son before he closed the door and went to check if Emma was still sleeping peacefully. When he finally made it back to bed himself Val mumbled something completely unintelligible and rolled over to put her head on his chest.

Sam fell asleep again, thinking that he was the luckiest guy on the planet. The fact that he had to get out of bed three more times before morning didn't change anything about that, either.

* * *

_Uncle Dean wants you to know that you're doing awesome on the big brother front. I agree._


	41. Chapter 41

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, Avalonemyst, Keefer, kb18142, CassXDeano, Miahbug, CherylB1964, Nyx Ro and Shorty22133.**  
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**41**

_October 31st, 2023_

_You insisted that Emma should be allowed to go trick or treating with you and your two friends. No objections from us, but you'll have to deal with your parents following you around – as inconspicuous as possible – now._

* * *

"We're too old for this shit," Toshio complained, dragging the shield that was a part of his costume behind him listlessly. Going trick or treating for Halloween was something children did, but they all were in the very early transition phase to adulthood now!

"We're too old for free candy?" Gabriel replied incredulously, pushing his sister's baby buggy along. Sure, the archangel could have conjured up sweets whenever he felt like it, but sort of working for them and earning some compliments for great costumes on the way made eating them later on much more satisfying. That Emma was still so young meant that Gabriel would have the perfect excuse to go trick or treating for another couple of years in the very least, too. Someone had to accompany her, after all!

"We're too old to let old ladies pinch our cheeks for sweets we could just ask our parents for," Toshio clarified. It wasn't like their parents, especially Gabriel's and Sophie's, didn't let them have all the chocolate they wanted, if they asked for it.

"You didn't complain when we picked the costumes," the archangel pointed out with a slight grin. It was quite obvious that Toshio had liked the prospect of dressing up like Captain America too much to turn it down. God knew why he was acting like everything was annoying now. Then again, as uncle Dean had explained to Gabriel, puberty had probably whacked Toshio over the head real hard already. Chances were in a couple of months the other two teens would understand the mood swings and general 'the world sucks and especially badly for me' attitude much better than they currently did.

"Does the baby have to be here?" the Japanese boy sulked, adjusting his mask. It was bad enough that they were still doing childish things, but did they have to bring an infant with them? Besides, Emma being there also meant that Sam and Val were following them around to make sure that one of them could take the baby home when things became too much for her.

"Yes," both Gabriel and Sophie stated in a very definite tone. The girl had lost her heart to the littlest Winchester just as quickly as most other people who had ever seen her and was very pleased that they had been allowed to take Emma with them. She might still be a baby, but the point that there was a second girl around now stood.

"D-do you have to c-c-complain all the time?" Sophie shot back, crossing her arms in front of her chest. At that moment it helped that her Black Widow costume included shoes with heels, so she was for once just a tiny little bit taller than the two boys. Sure, her mother hadn't allowed her to wear real high heels, but the two inches made all the difference, since all of them usually were about the same height.

"Yes," Toshio answered defiantly.

"D-does the s-s-second baby have to be h-here?" the girl asked with a groan. They all had had so much fun finding their Avengers costumes and now one of them was trying to bring everyone down. That wasn't fair!

"Y'know, Tosh, she's sort of right," Gabriel said, stopping in front of the walkway to the next house they wanted to visit to get Emma out of the buggy, "Emma isn't complaining anywhere near as much as you are."

The archangel took a moment to make sure he was holding his sister in a way that allowed her red cape to move freely. She looked back at him with big, adoring eyes that were more green than blue these days and put her tiny hand against his face with a grin.

"Fine," Toshio huffed, throwing his arms in the air. He still walked next to his two friends and even brought his shield in front of his chest like he was meant to. They had been close to the point where the other two would have told him that he could go home anytime he wanted and the teenager would much rather avoid having to admit that he wanted to go with them despite the entire thing being childish as hell.

"There you go," Gabriel told his sister with a wide smile, handing the rattle in hammer form to her. It had taken some convincing, but their parents had given in and had made sure that Emma got a Thor costume to match Gabriel's Loki.

"Trick or treat!" the three teenagers exclaimed in perfect sync as soon as the door was opened for them.

Toshio could complain about having Emma with them as much as he wanted, but it was a fact that they got more sweets when the homeowners were too distracted by the cuteness to pay much attention to what they were handing over. It also helped that the infant huddled closer to her brother as soon as a stranger paid too much attention to her which most people seemed to think was adorable.

Gabriel didn't put his sister back into her buggy as they walked toward the next house. She didn't want to let go and the archangel didn't want to put her back, either. Sophie was pushing the buggy along for them while Emma babbled on, touching her brother's cheek to make him look at her ever so often.

"You're doing really good," Gabriel told the baby in a proud tone, planting a kiss at the top of her head. The archangel changed the way he was holding his sister to play 'flying' with her for a little while as a reward just a moment later.

"Thor doesn't fly," Toshio pointed out, shaking his head.

"If he were a girl, he would," Gabriel grinned, giving his best friend one of his patented 'Just try to prove me wrong, I dare you' looks.

The Japanese boy considered the challenge he had just received for a few moments before he simply shrugged. He had tried and failed too often to win against his friend in logical arguments to want to repeat the experience.

It was shortly after they walked away from the next house that Sophie took Gabriel aside for a moment to whisper, "You think he's e-ever going to be n-normal again?"

The archangel frowned slightly, cradling his baby sister against his chest as he was thinking. He really hoped that Toshio wouldn't always be this moody and that he would calm the hell down again soon, but in the end he was their friend regardless, wasn't he? He still was the same person he had been before essentially, after all.

"I'm sure he will," Gabriel replied with more conviction than he really felt, "We're the terrible trio, remember?"

Sophie chuckled and nodded. They had been friends for too long to fall apart like this. Their friend was just going through a difficult phase most surely. Her father liked to say stuff like that, anyway.

"You gonna share her sweets with us? I mean, she can't eat them yet, anyway," Toshio asked Gabriel a few moments later, pointing toward the extra bag with sweets their carried around for Emma.

"I thought you were too old for all this," the archangel grinned. He was more than willing to take it as a good sign that even though his friend was protesting against all of this he still was enough into it to make sure that there was a lot of candy by the end of the evening. Not to mention that he had included Sophie into the question, which had been nice of him.

"You two forced me into it. I'm just trying to get the most out of this!" Toshio shrugged. He gave them both a slightly sheepish smile, however. It wasn't too late to pull himself together and have fun with his friends, yet.

"Emma says you can have some of her sweets, if you allow her to suck on your finger and pull your hair," Gabriel told his friend completely seriously.

It took a moment until Sophie started to laugh out loud and it wasn't long after that until Toshio's sour expression melted away and he laughed along. It had been a damn stupid joke, but the teenager could admit that he had acted damn stupid himself and probably deserved it.

"Well, well, aren't you a little young for a baby?" the king of hell asked casually. He had made sure to appear far enough from the group not to be noticed and was leaning against a lamp post casually.

"She's my sister," Gabriel replied, rolling his eyes at the demon's stupid joke.

"And again I have not been invited or even informed," Crowley sighed with through and through faked sadness. He stepped forward to pat the baby's head when he got a plastic hammer thrown into his general direction. It bounced off the sidewalk close to his shoe without ever hitting him, but it made Sam smirk, anyway.

The younger Winchester and his wife had quickly approached the little group of teenagers when they had first seen the demon. Neither one of them expected anything bad to happen, but it still seemed like a good idea to be as close as possible when the king of hell was making contact with your children.

"Clearly a Winchester," Crowley stated in a casual tone, finally patting the infant's head for a moment. He had the good sense to stop as soon as she started to squirm and make silent complaining noises, however.

"Her name's Emma," Gabriel told the demon, carefully bouncing his sister to calm her down and passing her on to their mother when it didn't work after a few moments. She had been getting a little tired before already and meeting another complete stranger had just been too much. It probably didn't help that Crowley's trademark suit and the fact that he had decided to put on devil's horns for Halloween made him register as a big pitch black something with two bright red spots on his head in the infant's perception.

Hell, Sophie and Toshio both were slightly unsettled by the demon's presence, as well. He looked like a picture out of a cautionary tale about 'stranger danger'. They had both seen him before and knew that he was some sort of uncle of Sam's, otherwise they might have grabbed Gabriel to run for their lives, to be honest.

"Very nice choice," Crowley replied with the nicest smile he could muster up, "How about uncle Crowley accompanies you for a while?"

The archangel nodded his consent pretty much instantly. Going trick or treating with the king of hell sounded awesome, even if none of his friends would know they had done it. Damn, that might have helped change Toshio's mind about going out for Halloween being lame!

"You can scare the crap out of everyone who doesn't give us anything," the Japanese boy stated with a shrug, trying not to show that he actually felt a little intimidated.

"Oh definitely. My pleasure," Crowley shot back in a tone that made shivers run down the teenager's spine.

Sam hadn't been sure if he should go back home with Val and Emma earlier, but he was pretty sure that staying with the teenagers was the better choice now. It wasn't like Crowley's previous sudden appearances had ever meant anything bad for them, but he still wished he could split himself in two.

Val gave her husband a gentle smile and a kiss before she put their daughter into her buggy. If she was being completely honest she would have had to admit that she had felt safer before the demon had shown up and reminded her of all the things that were out there. She still was sure that nothing was going to happen, however. Not to mention that their house was damn well protected and not far from their current location.

"How long do we have to know each other before you stop acting like I'm the devil in person?" Crowley asked in a conversational tone once Val and Emma had left and the teenagers were walking up to the next house. Of course, he knew very well why the younger Winchester was acting like he was, but he just liked to mess with the sasquatch a little whenever he got the chance.

"It'd help if you weren't in fact the devil in person," Sam shot back, keeping an eye out for the three kids to make sure they didn't overhear anything they weren't meant to. Both Sophie and Toshio were always quick to ask questions when they heard something that didn't make sense to them and Gabriel hated having to lie to them too much.

"King of hell, big difference," the demon insisted, "Besides, you have to admit that I am basically a part of your family by now."

Crowley had to say that he thoroughly enjoyed the completely pissed off expression that comment had put on the younger Winchester's face. There was more truth in that statement than both of them were comfortable with and they both knew it, but the demon was much better at not showing that knowing he had somehow become a part of the Winchester family made shivers run down his spine every now and then.

"The creepy uncle part suits you well," Sam snorted. Alright, maybe having the king of hell around every now and then to let them all know that they were still allies of sorts was just the tiniest little bit reassuring. Most of all it was annoying, though.

"Give it a few more years, Sasquatch," Crowley commented, wrapping an arm around the human's shoulder and squeezing, "We'll be having a good cup of tea and cookies together and trade stories of the good old time."

Sam huffed and stepped out of the demon's hold. He would have had a much stronger reaction to the unwanted contact, if the teenagers hadn't come back their way that very moment.

"Mom and Emma are back home and getting ready for bed," Gabriel whispered to his father as soon as he got the chance. He knew that Sam had been worried, but the archangel knew for a fact that they were both completely safe and sound, so he thought he should share that knowledge.

The younger Winchester smiled gratefully, hugging his son for a short moment.

"Tea and cookies sound like a good idea," Sam told Crowley as soon as the teenagers had taken off again, "So many possibilities to put holy water or salt into those."

The look the two adults passed between them clearly didn't speak of friendship, but it wasn't quite as hostile as it might have been, either. They both might just have to begrudgingly acknowledge that they respected the other to some degree.

* * *

_Someday… Someday you'll have to explain to me why you like Crowley as much as you do, Gabe. Maybe I'll even understand it._


	42. Chapter 42

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, FireChildSlytherin5, Maddy Love Castiel, Keefer, SARA1988, Purpura Avis, CherylB1964, Avalonemyst and kb18142 for last chapter's reviews!**  
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Okay, I'm tired of complaining about getting less and less reviews when I have such awesome and faithful reviewers as I do. It's a fact that the last chapter had less reviews than basically any other of the story, however.

I am tired and motivation to do pretty much anything is failing me just in time for the holidays, so I have decided to take a break. No worries, it's not going to be a long one. The story should return - hopefully with new energy - in about a week.

I'd like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas! See you around New Year's!

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**42**

_December 25__th__, 2023_

_Balthazar said that he had a very special present for the entire family this year. I'm man enough to admit that I'm scared, Gabe._

* * *

"Merry Christmas," Balthazar greeted Sam, Val and their kids as soon as they walked through the door.

The younger Winchester helped his wife out of her coat, raising an eyebrow at the angel's cheerfulness. Sure, he hardly ever seemed to be down or even all too serious, but it was rare that he was simply joyful instead of snarky or a little sardonic.

"Merry Christmas," Gabriel echoed, watching with critical eyes as his brother took Emma out of her buggy and got rid of her warm overcoat. Where his sister was concerned, the archangel liked to believe that only he and his parents were experts. Everyone else might be allowed to handle her for a little while, but they would have to deal with her bigger brother's watchful gaze on them.

"Someone's in the Christmas spirit this year," Valerie commented with an amused smile. Whatever had gotten Balthazar in a mood as good as this probably meant bad news for Dean and possibly Castiel. Oh well, her brother in law wouldn't be completely happy with an entirely peaceful Christmas day, anyway.

"Nothing gets me more in the mood than a delightful little blasphemy," the blonde angel admitted, grinning like a child – Gabriel, for example – in a candy store. He didn't even seem to notice that Emma was drooling on his quite possibly very expensive shirt as he carried her to the living room, gesturing for the others to come along. He wouldn't even have had to give them a sign to follow him after his last statement, however.

Bobby's snort and slight shrug as well as Jody's clearly very amused expression did nothing to prepare them for what they saw once they got close enough to see what the oldest of the hunters and the sheriff were looking at.

"It was about time we got a nativity set," Balthazar stated very seriously, bouncing Emma against his side. Sadly, the infant was the only one who was simply too young to appreciate the artwork the angel had put together. Actually, she might have been able to find some enjoyment in sucking on the figurines or bashing them on the ground, but a bunch of Italian artists would cry bitter tears, if that happened. If they ever heard of it, anyway.

Gabriel even forgot to constantly keep one eye on Balthazar as he took everything in. He had seen nativity sets before, of course. The archangel knew that his family just wasn't big on believing into anything the bible said – with good reason – but that didn't mean that they couldn't watch and enjoy all the normal Christmas movies. Not to mention that you couldn't go outside, especially to the mall, around this time of the year without seeing that sort of thing.

"Did you use my daughter as baby Jesus?" Sam asked incredulously, even though he couldn't quite stop looking at the entire nativity scene. The details were stunning and it was impossible not to admire the determination with which Balthazar had replaced each and every one of the traditional figures with one of their family members or something out of their lives.

"Well, Gabriel had to play Gabriel," the angel shrugged, putting the littlest Winchester down on the carpet when she started to get fidgety, wanting to move around on her own for a while. "And Dean, while being a baby most of the time, was too big for the crib. Besides, I made your wife Virgin Mary too and I'm pretty sure there was nothing immaculate about the conception of your little bugger."

Instead of baby Jesus, the older Winchester was playing a shepherd with Cookie by his side and Castiel obviously being the angel sent to tell him about the birth of baby… Emma. Gabriel, as Balthazar had said, was acting as himself and was sitting on top of the stable in jeans and his favorite Avengers shirt, his white wings spread wide behind him.

The two figurines looking like Sam and Val were obviously the parents in the scene, standing next to the crib with their baby in it, happy smiles on their faces. Bobby, Jody and Balthazar had been chosen to be the three wise men – more often than not they were the voices of reason, as the blonde angel pointed out, even though nobody else seemed to fully agree with him there. Even the Impala had found its place as a stand-in for the donkey, which caused a few more raised eyebrows.

"They'd have been able to flee to Egypt so much faster that way," Balthazar shrugged lightly, "I am willing to take bets that Dean and I will be able to agree on this, by the way."

The younger Winchester couldn't argue with that. All in all, the nativity scene the angel had put together looked very nice and even rather festive with the background image displaying a winter forest scene, the few trees covered in fake snow and all of them dressed nicely and smiling.

"Is that Crowley lurking in the background?" Gabriel asked, pointing at the figure that was half hidden behind a tree, but clearly looking toward the rest of them. In fact, he wouldn't have had to ask, because it was quite obvious that it really was the king of hell. The figurines were damn lifelike to say the least.

"Isn't that what he always does?" Balthazar countered. He couldn't have thought of a better place to put the demon in and it had seemed very fitting in any case. It looked like they all could agree on that, anyway.

The rumbling of the Impala's engine announced that Dean and Castiel were about to join them. The blonde angel was hurrying toward the door before any of the others even had a chance to move. He had had to wait to see the older Winchester's face when he saw the little surprise he had come up with for much too long, already.

"Does he think he can annoy Dean with this?" Val asked with a frown. She didn't see how that would work. She was about to find out that she had seriously underestimated how much thought the angel was willing to put into a simple prank, however.

"Those two were especially hard to make," Balthazar explained after he had given Dean and Castiel the chance to take the entire scene in, pointing at the two figurines representing them, "They had to fit together perfectly, after all."

Without further ado the angel moved the two figurines, so it became all too obvious what he had been talking about. The shepherd and the angel had been designed in a way that they could be put together in a way that made them touch from their lips to the tip of their toes.

Gabriel had picked Emma up again a little earlier and was basically shaking with laughter at that reveal, his little sister all too happy to laugh along with her brother, even if she didn't understand what was so funny.

"Son of a bitch!" Dean grumbled, shooting a murderous glare his younger brother's way when the corners of his mouth curved upward. They all were damn lucky that he had already bought their presents… and that he didn't want to keep any of them.

* * *

"You know, Balthazar might stop mocking you like that, if you just admitted what everyone already knows, anyway," Sam suggested when he and Dean got a few minutes to talk just between them. He had never felt the need to have a conversation about the kind of relationship he had with the dark-haired angel with his older brother, but this just seemed like a good moment to bring it up. Okay, there had been good moments rather regularly over the years, the younger Winchester had just avoided to take the opportunities for peace sake. If Dean had wanted to tell them, he would have, that much was for sure.

"Yeah sure. My epic love for Cas is so epic that its epicness is epic in itself," Dean snarked, "That what you wanted to hear, Samantha?"

Sam rolled his eyes. Wasn't it sad that his older brother could only say things like that when he made them sound like he didn't mean them at all? Then again, it seemed to work pretty well for him and his oh so epic love interest.  
"Good for you," the younger Winchester simply commented, patting his brother's back before he went away, leaving a slightly flabbergasted Dean behind. The older Winchester had been prepared for a number of reactions, but not for that one.

"I suggest you try to find synonyms for the word epic. It was getting a little repetitive toward the end of your statement," Castiel commented, the smile apparent in his voice. He had noticed that Dean had spoken in a very sarcastic tone of voice, but chose to ignore it. The angel knew all too well that the older Winchester liked to hide behind a wall of tough words and making fun of everything that might lead to a chick flick moment. Sam obviously had looked right through that tactic, as well.

"Did you just listen in to a private talk between brothers?" Dean huffed, trying and failing to work up some righteous indignation.

"I might have overheard the essentials," Castiel admitted in a completely matter-of-fact tone. It had been hard not to overhear what the two Winchester brothers had been speaking about since he had been standing right outside the room, however. If the angel was completely honest, he would have to say that he hadn't had a good reason to stand right this close to the entrance of the room, however.

"Good," Dean stated, lifting his hand to stroke over Cas' cheek gently for a moment, "But don't make a habit out of spying on me like that."

It was hard enough to have some semblance of privacy living with a heavenly being without any respect for personal space, for Dean's personal space, anyway. Now if Castiel started to actively try to stalk him, that might just turn out to be the scariest thing that had ever happened to him.

"There is no need for me to spy on you, Dean. I already know everything anyone could possibly know about you," the dark-haired angel pointed out. After all, he had put the older Winchester's body back together after it had been torn apart by hellhounds, he had cradled his soul as they made their way back out of hell, he had healed him countless times since, had seen everything Dean did in his everyday life and a lot of things that weren't exactly a part of anyone's normal everyday life.

"Now you're being creepy," the older Winchester grumbled.

"My apologies," Castiel replied with a perfect look of innocence on his face.

Dean couldn't have helped laughing at that, if his life depended on it.

If the angel had had to choose between listening to the heavenly choir sing and the older Winchester's honest and carefree laughter, he wouldn't have taken a second to choose which he would rather hear.

* * *

"This one's for you," Gabriel told his baby sister, putting the gift to the one side, "And this one's for me."

Emma just sat on the carpet next to her bigger brother, looking at him with big eyes and gnawing on her teething ring. Every now and then she banged her toy on the floor, babbling toward the archangel to let him know that she appreciated the attention he was paying to her.

Once Gabriel was done sorting the presents he grabbed his little sister under her arms and pulled her into his lap. The infant made a few happy noises and cuddled up to the teenager for a few long moments before she began to squirm, wanting to be more active again.

"Emma's getting impatient!" the archangel called toward the adults in the room, "I think we should open the presents!"

Of course, the baby didn't exactly grasp the concept of Christmas and getting gifts yet and it was doubtful that she would even be all too impressed by the things everyone had bought for her, but Emma wasn't the only one who was getting impatient, anyway.

The adults got the hint and gathered around the tree in under a minute. They all were looking forward to seeing what their loved ones had got them as well, so it was good for everyone that Gabriel made sure that things were moving forward.

The usual Christmas sweaters were exchanged along with Balthazar's yearly try to get each one of them something age appropriate that was also very fashionable. The fact that the sweaters were worn much more often than those things didn't keep the angel from trying again every year. He wasn't quite sure if the average human life span was long enough to beat some style into the muttonheads in this family, but then again with some angelic assistance it was quite likely that all of them would live longer than average. Balthazar wouldn't give up in any case.

It wasn't long before it became clear that they all had once more used the fact that a baby was around to just go on a shopping spree, buying all the cutesy stuff that parents appreciated probably even more than infants did. Emma was very taken with the angel plushy Gabriel had created for her, however. The archangel had modeled it after his own favorite early childhood toys and was very pleased to see that his sister immediately started to cuddle the toy and pull on its wings.

The teenager in turn was very happy with the camera his parents had bought for him. Sam had also made sure that it could be used immediately after coming out of the box, so Gabriel was already snapping his first few pictures. He managed to capture the moment when his mother uncovered the silver bracelet with three pendants that had the birthdays of him and Emma and the wedding date of their parents engraved.

The first short video Gabriel shot was of Balthazar handing a gift to Castiel.

The dark-haired angel unwrapped the gift very slowly, making sure that he didn't tear the paper. He was basically the only one of them who had the patience to do something like that.

"Because we all know that our aging macho man would never admit he likes to cuddle," Balthazar explained as soon as his dark-haired brother had uncovered the big teddy bear, wearing jeans and a leather jacket as well as a replica of the amulet Dean wore, he had gotten for him.

"Thank you," Castiel stated very seriously, hugging his brother for a short moment, "I am sure we will be able to make room for Dean bear."

Balthazar smirked but didn't comment and instead went to make sure that Sam and Val knew that he had been the one to get Emma her very first designer dress. Not that he would have needed to point that out.

"Could I convince you to give the thing to Gabe or Emma, if I promise to cuddle you in its place?" Dean asked with a grin as soon as the blonde angel was gone and he felt unwatched.

"I would be willing to agree to a deal like that," Castiel answered with a small smile.

The older Winchester just smiled back for a moment before his eyes fell on his nephew and his newest toy. "Is that thing on?"

Gabriel only took the time to nod quickly, before he stuffed his camera into his pocket and took off to hide behind his father. His uncle wouldn't dare to take the camera from him or demand that he delete the video, if the others were around. The archangel would lie, if he said that he wasn't tempted to put the video on youtube. It was doubtful that anyone else would find it quite as funny as he did, however. He could still show it to his two best friends. They surely would be able to appreciate the scene.

* * *

_Of course, your uncle is now mad at me for handing a camera to the resident little trickster. Merry Christmas, Gabe!_


	43. Chapter 43

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, FireChildSlytherin5, Maddy Love Castiel, RachelPhobia, Shorty22133, CassXDeano, Keefer, midnight0211, kb18142, lobita, CherylB1964, Pizzapig, Avalonemyst, Purpura Avis, SARA1988, Miahbug and Winka for last chapter's reviews!

I am back! :-D**  
**

In case anyone is interested and hasn't seen before, I got a Christmas themed one-shot out on the 25th by the title of "Santa Clause is coming to town". It's Sabriel, completely unrelated to this story and M-rated.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all have a great day and a wonderful start to 2013!

* * *

**43**

_June 16__th__, 2024_

_Father's day. Gabe, having two kids like you and your sister every day is father's day. That doesn't mean I'm not curious to see what you come up with this year, however._

* * *

Father's day was one of those holidays that had held no meaning to the younger Winchester for the longest time. His own father had hardly ever been around so they even could have celebrated it. It wasn't like John Winchester would have appreciated any kind of celebration all too much, anyway. Father's day would have only reminded him of mother's day and the fact that Mary was no longer with them and that he still hadn't managed to avenge her death. To be honest, he had had basically the same attitude toward most holidays.

Ever since Gabriel had been old enough to know what father's day was he had made sure that there was one little present for his dad, however. Sam really appreciated the gesture, too. He still had the toy car the archangel had put into his hand with a heartfelt 'I love you, daddy' when he had been only five years old.

Over the years the presents had changed from things Gabriel figured his dad just had to love, because he loved them too, to things he knew his father liked. The younger Winchester had cherished every single one of them the same, anyway.

That year Sam was woken up by the smell of breakfast just a few minutes short of seven a.m.

Cracking one eye open the younger Winchester quickly deduced that it had to be Gabriel cooking. Valerie was dead to the world and they still had a little while before Emma would even reach the stove.

"Morning," Sam whispered to his wife when she cracked one eye open for a moment as he moved to get out of bed. He leaned in to give her a short kiss that left her smiling. Right afterward she only mumbled something nearly unintelligible and turned around to go back to sleep, however.

The younger Winchester chuckled, quickly grabbed his clothes for the day and let her have her rest. Val had wanted to go back to work a few months after Emma's birth and had been happy to hear that she could continue with her job at the hotel. That meant that she had to do the occasional weekend or night shift again as well, however. The previous night had been one of those night shifts too, so it was very unlikely that Val would get out of bed again before lunchtime. She had only crawled into bed about an hour earlier, after all.

Valerie going back to work also meant that Sam was once more the stay at home dad, not that he minded in the slightest. His brother of course never grew tired of making stupid mommy jokes and pointing out that he was now the 'kept woman' of both Balthazar and Valerie. Oh well, having the chance to be there to witness every step on the way to growing up his two kids made was worth listening to stupid comments for.

"Morning Gabe," Sam greeted his son with a smile once he made it to the kitchen where the teenager was indeed cooking breakfast. His little sister sitting in her high chair nearly suspiciously quiet for a one year old who had nothing but her plush angel and watching her older brother for entertainment.

The archangel had informed his father that he sometimes had shorter or longer conversations with the baby in her mind and that he also projected nice and funny or calming pictures into her head sometimes when she got too restless. Chances were he was doing something like that that very moment, too.

"Dad!" Gabriel nearly whined, turning around to look at his father, disappointment clear on his face, "I wanted to come get you when everything's done!"

The teenager had discovered his love for cooking and baking only a few months ago, but as with most things he was a natural and could master the hardest recipes very quickly, if he set his mind to it. It just figured that there always were freshly baked pies, cakes, muffins or other sweet things in the house these days. To be honest, there had been before as well, but Gabriel wasn't simply making them appear with a thought anymore.

"'M sorry, I didn't know that," Sam apologized automatically, even though he was sure that his son knew that. It also looked like now that he was there already, the archangel was at least satisfied with the way he was looking at the things he was preparing curiously.

"Of course not, it's a surprise," Gabriel allowed, waving the spatula he had used on the scrambled eggs into his father's general direction. He couldn't have told him to stay upstairs until he asked him to come eat breakfast, if he wanted the fact that he was preparing a special father's day breakfast a surprise! The archangel probably could have given his dad a bit of a deeper sleep for the day to keep him from waking up and coming downstairs too soon, too. He knew that messing with people's bodies and minds wasn't something he was supposed to do, however. Not without asking them first or if it was some sort of emergency, anyway.

"That definitely worked, I am surprised," Sam replied seriously. He had been surprised when he had woken up to the smell of breakfast for sure. Not all that surprised to find that his son was cooking, but there had been a surprise and that was the most important thing.

"Good, that's okay then," Gabriel grinned widely, turning back toward the stove before he added, "Sit down!"

The younger Winchester nodded dutifully and plopped down on his usual chair by the table, reaching over to pet his daughter's head as soon as he was seated. Emma made a few definitely pleased noises and let go off her plushy to grab her father's hand instead.

"Morning princess," Sam smiled, getting her out of her highchair to let her sit on his knee instead. It had to be said that Emma was easier to handle than her brother had been at that age in that she wasn't on the constant search for body contact like Gabriel had been at her age. That didn't mean she didn't like to cuddle and be held, it only meant that being put into a high chair or stroller for a while without anyone close enough to touch at nearly every moment wasn't quite the problem it had been with her brother.

It probably helped that she had always been the center of someone's attention ever since she had been born. Not to mention that they hadn't given her away for a week and that no crazy archangels had tried to take her away from her family. The younger Winchester had always used those traumatic events that had happened during the first months of Gabriel's life as an explanation for his son's clinginess, anyway. Alright, he hadn't exactly discouraged it for the most part, either.

"Dada," the infant yelled, squirming until Sam let her stand up on his lap, so she could grab his hair and stroke his face. Emma actually had started with saying 'Ga', but 'mama' and 'dada' had followed shortly afterward. It was very understandable that the little one had needed a way to properly address the person who was communicating with her the most – and in a way she actually understood – first, however.

"Emma helped by being all good," Gabriel pointed out, the love for his younger sister clearly to be heard in his voice, "And the banana and apple bread pudding was her idea."

Sam just nodded, picked his daughter up and raised her over his head wiggling his arms until she giggled madly. He had asked his son once, if he had ever somehow asked Emma, if she was okay with having her mind read nearly the entire time. Gabriel had assured him very convincingly that their youngest family member was very happy to have someone who could communicate her needs and awesome ideas to their parents, however. The younger Winchester thought they would have to talk about this again in a couple of years when Emma would start to understand what privacy meant and that she might like to have some every now and then.

It wasn't long afterward that Gabriel put the special father's day breakfast he had cooked on the table. He even insisted on feeding his sister, so their father could just enjoy his meal.

"Careful Gabe, I'm starting to think that there's something you want from me," Sam pointed out jokingly. He knew that this was his present for father's day, but he couldn't help thinking that his teenage son was putting a little too much work into all this not to have some hidden agenda. Chances were whatever request the archangel had would be rather reasonable, however. He hardly ever asked for something his parents couldn't or didn't want to allow.

"I want you to enjoy father's day," Gabriel shrugged, feeding some more of the bread pudding to Emma, "And I'm practicing. Maybe I'll be a cook some day."

Sam nodded to that. Either his son wasn't yet ready to share what was on his mind, or he really just enjoyed cooking that much. It was the first time he had ever clearly voiced that being a cook was a desirable career path in his opinion, in any case.

"I definitely am, thanks champ," the younger Winchester replied, ruffling his son's hair when the teenager was too busy making sure that Emma didn't make too much of a mess to bat his hand away, "And you'd make a damn fine cook."

Of course, it was likely that Gabriel would come up with a hundred more jobs he really wanted to do before he finally settled for one, but Sam would be fine with whatever the teenager decided on, anyway. Hell, he wouldn't lose a bad word about it, if the archangel decided that he wanted to be a hunter after all or that he wanted to simply be an archangel for a full time job. Maybe those two things weren't exactly what he wished for, but in the end Gabriel had to be happy with the decision he made.

"Maybe… maybe we can go for a walk later?" the teenager asked after all of them were done eating, scratching the back of his neck, "Just you and me?"

It was easy to agree to that wish. They'd just have to wait until Val woke up, but it didn't look like Gabriel was in that much of a hurry as long as he got his father just for himself later.

* * *

At the age of 41 Sam felt just a little too old to climb up trees. He had discovered the first few grey hairs months earlier and thought it was about time to make peace with the thought that yes, he was growing older. Granted, knowing that his older brother had had his first grey hairs years earlier helped with that a lot. For all Sam knew Dean was punishing every single hair that dared to lose its color by pulling it out. Hopefully, the older Winchester would stop with that before he'd have an entirely different problem that would surely bug him even more than a couple of grey hairs.

At the age of 41 Sam still was a bit of a pushover where things Gabriel wanted from him very badly were concerned, so he had climbed up that tree to sit on a thick branch next to his son, anyway.

"Okay, shoot," the younger Winchester prompted after watching the teenager look at him obviously waiting for the perfect opportunity to say something for a few long moments. If it hadn't been clear that there was something the archangel wanted to talk about before, it sure was now.

"Okay, but I really just wanted to give you a great breakfast 'cause you're a great dad and it's father's day," Gabriel replied, leaning a bit closer to his dad until Sam got the hint and put an arm around his shoulders, "I… I've been thinking… and Tosh and Sophie think it'd be great… and I wanna… I guess I wanna…"

The younger Winchester frowned, but kept quiet, only squeezing his son's shoulder encouragingly when the teenager didn't speak on. He might have joked that it was a bit too early for Gabe to move out and into a flat share with his two friends or that he really couldn't go to one of Balthazar's parties yet, but it was obvious that the archangel was a bit nervous for whatever reason already, so he didn't.

"I wanna go to High School," the teenager confessed, looking at his father expectantly, "They're both starting in autumn and they're going to be in the same school and I want that, too."

Sam nodded slowly. He had wondered when or if Gabriel would start to want things like that. His two friends going to an entirely new school where the three of them could start basically from scratch together seemed like a good opportunity to get into school drawing only minimal attention to the fact that he would be the new kid.

"I'm sure we can make that happen," the younger Winchester said out loud a moment later.

The archangel surely had all the knowledge and the maturity for High School and it couldn't be that hard to produce the right paperwork to get him into the school he wanted to go to. They'd have to talk about a couple of new rules that would be needed, but all in all Gabriel was still very well behaved and knew how far he could go without anyone telling him. Still, better safe than sorry.

"Are you gonna be okay without me?" the teenager asked with a slight smirk, but there was something very heartfelt about the question as well. Saying that he and his dad had spent every moment together would be an exaggeration, but they hadn't been apart as much as they were going to be, either. In fact, Gabriel was a little worried that he himself would find it hard to get used to that.

"I'll probably need a few new hobbies without you there to entertain me, but I guess I'll live," Sam promised, cuddling the teen as much as he could without putting them both in danger of falling off the tree, "Think you can fly us down there?"

It wasn't that often that someone asked the archangel to use his powers, so he usually jumped at every chance he got. This time was no exception and the two Winchesters were back on the ground faster than they would have been even if they had fallen off the tree.

Sam definitely was too old for giving piggyback rides to his son and Gabriel definitely was too old for them, but that didn't keep them both from enjoying the moment.

* * *

_I'm glad that I still have a couple of months before you're going to be out of the house much more regularly and for much longer than usually. Don't worry though, Emma and I will find ways to entertain ourselves. You're growing up, Gabe and while that'll take some getting used to, it's still a good thing._


	44. Chapter 44

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, Keefer, kb18142, Avalonemyst, Juliette-Kissrose, starshaker, RachelPhobia, miahbug, musicfeind2392, CherylB1964, Aguna and Pizzapig for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

* * *

**44**

_October 4__th__, 2024_

_This morning you told me to let you out of the car around the corner from your school. You also didn't want to kiss your sister good bye like you usually do and my question if I should pick you up after class was met with a grumpy 'I'm gonna go home with Toshio and Sophie, if you absolutely gotta know'. I think we have arrived at puberty land._

* * *

"Don't worry, Em. Your big brother will cuddle you again soon enough," Dean told the toddler after his brother had finished telling him about the things that had happened earlier, "And until then uncle Dean will cuddle you."

For some reason admitting that he liked to cuddle his little niece was no problem for the older Winchester, admitting that he liked cuddling in general or even acknowledging that it might not be a form of torture was completely impossible, however.

The toddler squealed happily when her uncle let her snuggle up to him to her heart's content, obviously enjoying the attention. She had been displeased by her brother ignoring her before he had left the car earlier, but at least the even bigger big people still made sense.

"As for you," Dean added with a slight smirk, looking at his younger brother, "You deserve all the teenage angst and mood swings Gabe can dish out! You were a total brat at that age."

The older Winchester wasn't ashamed to admit that he felt some malicious joy at the prospect of Sam having to deal with a pubescent teenager. He had had to deal with all the crap Sam had thrown his way during that time, so it felt like a bit of payback.

"Like you were better," the younger Winchester snorted, handing his older brother the bottle of juice to give to Emma while he was holding her already.

"Bitch please," Dean shot back, putting the bottle into his niece's mouth before she could even dream of repeating the word she had just heard, "You were picking fights with me and dad every single chance you got."

The older Winchester acknowledged that his brother always had found it harder to live the life they had been living and he probably had been right to complain about a bunch of things, but he still had made everything even harder than it already had been for everyone, including himself.

"You suddenly were too cool to spend any time with me where we could be seen by others," Sam retorted. Really, Dean's memory of the time might be a little foggy from a mix between hormones and alcohol, but the younger Winchester could remember all too clearly.

"Your angst levels were so high that the entire nation was on DEFCON 1 just because of you," the older Winchester pointed out with a smug smile, obviously thinking that he had just thought of something very witty to say. To be honest though, Sam's angst levels had been pretty high throughout most of his life. Oh well, that included puberty, anyway.

"You dumped me at Plucky Pennywhistle's to make out with random girls at least once a week," the younger Winchester added to his own little list of pubescent misconducts his older brother was guilty of. He didn't have that stupid fear of clowns from nothing. Spending far too much time around a bunch of adults in heavy make-up you were bound to run into a few that were creepy enough to cause phobias.

"Your first answer to everything was 'no', even if you actually really wanted something and then you'd bitch and moan about not getting it endlessly," Dean countered. All teenagers were bound to make that mistake at some point, however. It was like a law of nature or something.

"You permanently damaged both our hearing with the stupid music you blasted whenever something didn't go after your head," Sam shot back. The effect of the words was somewhat ruined with the funny faces he pulled for his daughter's amusement just moments later, though. They weren't really trying to figure out which one of them had been worse during puberty, anyway. It was mostly about bringing up old memories they actually could laugh about now that enough time had passed.

"You killed a lot of my brain cells with the soft rock you insisted on listening to!" Dean pulled a face. The combination between figuring out that his little brother's taste in music really was that bad and having to listen to it whenever little Sammy felt like the world was just too damn unfair – which had happened at least once a day – had really hurt.

The brothers looked at each other for a few moments in silence before they both had to laugh. Emma might not understand what her father and uncle thought was so funny, but she was willing enough to just go with the mood and laugh along.

"Do you think Gabe's going to be that bad?" Sam asked after he had stopped chuckling. If the archangel should turn out to be a sort of mixture between the two oldest Winchesters, they'd all really have their hands full.

"He is a Winchester," Dean shrugged, "Hey, at least chances that he'll go and get himself knocked up are very slim."

The younger Winchester shook his head, snorting. Thank God for small mercies…

* * *

"Rebecca, kindly remind your husband that I am taller than him and fiercely protective of my son," Sam spoke into the telephone. He hadn't even found out what had happened yet, because Tom just wouldn't stop ranting on about what he was going to do to Gabriel for hurting Sophie's feelings.

"I'm sorry, he's being a big baby about this," Rebecca sighed, banging a door closed behind her on the search for a place where she could just have a conversation in peace and quiet. Granted, she was a bit annoyed with the teenager too, but chances were that everything would be okay between the two kids again before the week was over.

"I actually just wanted to warn you that a really pissed off teenager is on the way back home," the woman stated after she hade made sure that they could speak reasonably and without being interrupted the entire time, "That and tell you that Gabriel apparently called Sophie an uncool nerd."

Sam hissed silently after hearing that one. Chances were his son was already sorry for ever saying something like that, but he probably had hurt his friend a lot with those words. To tell the truth however, the younger Winchester wasn't really surprised. A fight between the teenagers had probably been long overdue.

The two adults didn't have much to say to each other after Sam had promised to talk to Gabriel. He'd try to get his son to apologize as soon as possible, but depending on what exactly had prompted him to call Sophie these things in the first place that might still take a while.

Judged by the way the archangel stormed up the stairs, banging the front door and the door of his own room shut with more than excessive force minutes after his father had hung up the phone, he obviously wasn't yet ready to talk, however.

"Your brother isn't going to make this easy for us," Sam told his daughter who was complaining about being woken up from the afternoon nap she had been taking in the living room before all the noise had pulled her out of dream land. Luckily it only took some serious cuddling and throwing Emma in the air a few times before the toddler was all smiles again.

On his search for the right toys to entertain his daughter with until the time to have a conversation with Gabriel came, the younger Winchester noticed that Cookie was trotting up the stairs. Maybe the husky had better chances to get through to the teenager than anyone else had that very moment, anyway.

"Or maybe not," Sam said mostly to himself when the dog came back downstairs mere minutes later and laid down on the floor close to here the big and the little human were playing with some toy blocks. By the looks of it at least one more apology would be needed, as well. The husky definitely looked dejected and sad.

"Definitely a Winchester," the younger Winchester nodded to himself when less than a minute later very loud music was coming from Gabriel's room, "Y'know, Em, older brothers get weird like that before they get normal again."

The little girl looked at her father, cocking her head slightly before she let loose a string of words that were either gibberish or had nothing to do with each other. It made Sam smile, anyway.

Usually, he would have gone upstairs much earlier already, but this was a special kind of outburst, the one that could only end in an argument, if he got involved too early. It wasn't like Gabriel could hurt himself or anyone else as long as he was just blasting – sort of awful – music.

Cookie kept looking at his older owner like he was being a terribly pack leader, anyway. Rebelling pack members needed to be put in their place immediately, otherwise they'd always think they could get away with everything!

"Oh trust me a little, you old dog," Sam groaned before he went back to just playing with Emma like nothing had happened. He wasn't going to let his dog tell him how to raise his teenage son!

It took about twenty minutes or half an hour before the music stopped just as abruptly as it had started. No more than two more minutes before there were footsteps on the staircase.

"Why didn't you come upstairs to tell me to turn the damn music off?" Gabriel nearly pouted, standing in front of the couch where his father was reading the newspaper while Emma played with a few dolls and stuffed animals.

"When have I ever done something like that?" Sam retorted, putting the paper away immediately and patting the spot on the couch next to him. Granted, he hadn't had to do anything other than ask his son to please keep it down a little ever before.

The teenager plopped down on the far end of the sofa as he muttered something that the younger Winchester thought was supposed to mean 'never'.

"Besides, Cookie tried to comfort you and you apparently sent him away rudely enough so he came back with his tail between his legs," Sam pointed out after a moment of silence. He noticed how Gabriel cringed slightly at that and took it as a sign that the teenager was starting to think about the things he had done in the past hours. "I didn't honestly expect that I would fare any better."

The younger Winchester had had many arguments like that with his father and older brother back in the day and had figured that he could at least try to take a different approach. Sure, it might have gone wrong, but going upstairs to confront the teenager would have gone wrong, as well.

"Told him to leave me the fuck alone," Gabriel mumbled, moving a little closer to his father. He still was far enough away that the adult would have had to stretch to touch him, however.

"Mhm," Sam hummed his acknowledgment, "And you told Sophie that she's an uncool nerd, as I heard."

The teenager looked back at the adult defiantly for a moment before his shoulders slumped and he nodded slightly. He hadn't meant it like that, but the words had been spoken.

"I don't always want to be the strange, nerdy kid," the archangel stated with a hint of righteous indignation in his voice, "Sophie of course doesn't mind, 'cause she is just like that."

The younger Winchester frowned. That wasn't exactly what he had thought the teenagers had been arguing about, but he thought he understood where the hurtful words his son had thrown at the girl had come from.

"Who thinks of you as the strange, nerdy kid?" Sam asked, putting his arm on the backrest of the couch, noticing that the teenager had moved close enough to be hugged easily in the meantime.

"Most people at school," Gabriel muttered, finally leaning against his father's side.

The two Winchester males sat like that for some time before Emma pulled herself up on a chair and toddled over to them, demanding to join the cuddling.

"You know who else always was the strange nerd at school?" the younger Winchester wanted to know as soon as the three of them had gotten comfortable.

The teenager had his legs thrown over his father's lap and the toddler was sitting on her bigger brother's lap, their father's arm around both of them.

"Dad, not a story about how you were the same growing up," Gabriel whined, "You're an adult now. You don't have those problems anymore."

Besides, it wasn't like the archangel would honestly be able to see his dad as anything but an adult and comprehend how things had been for him when he had been Gabriel's age. Under different circumstances he liked hearing that sort of story, but not when it was supposed to help him solve his own very pressing problems.

"Okay, okay," Sam sighed defeated, "But I know a lot of things that I didn't back then now, too."

The teenager nodded his acknowledgment. He could give the adult that for sure.

"I know that being strange isn't bad and being a nerd isn't bad, either," the younger Winchester said, holding his hand up to silence the protests that his son had wanted to make immediately, "I also know that you've always been just the way you are and you've always been happy. Then something made you think that just being you wasn't good enough. You don't look happy to me now."

"And that's bad," Gabriel groaned. It felt like too much of a morality tale, even if his father was probably right with what he had said. Damn, he didn't have to go to school every day and realize that he basically only fit in with Sophie and Toshio!

"Oh wow, am I really that totally uncool, old dad handing out stupid, unwanted advice now?" Sam asked. The corners of his mouth were curving upward amusedly, though.

"Right now? Yeah," the archangel shot back, chuckling when his father started to tickle him for the comment immediately.

After Emma had stopped giggling and yelling gibberish and the three of them had settled back into the couch again, Sam nodded solemnly and suggested, "Let's just get Balthazar and Castiel involved and watch how they teach all those judgmental brats a lesson."

The younger Winchester took a moment to be amused about the fact that a couple of years ago that suggestion would have come from Dean and he would have been the one to pull a face. Now he made stupid jokes like that while Gabriel looked at him like he was just being childish. His older brother would surely enjoy hearing about that.  
"No? You wanna call Crowley instead?" the younger Winchester added, raising an eyebrow.

"Dad, no," Gabriel groaned again, extracting himself from his father's embrace and handing his little sister over to the adult, "The only one I wanna call is Sophie… to apologize."

And after that was done with maybe he could figure out a way of how to deal with everything better. His father's stupid joke about getting Cas and Balthy to use a bit of mojo to put the jerks into their place had given him an idea already. Not that he would tell his father about it. He'd probably hear more about that soon, however

* * *

_Well, look at that. In the end I didn't even have to tell you to go and apologize and Sophie obviously was pleased enough with the quick end of your dispute that she forgave you pretty much instantly. I'm sure this won't be the last time puberty has reared its ugly head, but I am positive that we'll be able to handle whatever will come our way together._


	45. Chapter 45

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, FireChildSlytherin5, Maddy Love Castiel, Keefer, RachelPhobia, Shorty22133, Hesta101, musicfeind2392, Nyx Ro, Juliette-Kissrose, kb18142, CherylB1964 and Avalonemyst for last chapter's reviews!

The wonderful Larkafree started writing a **spin-off** to this story that focuses on the Destiel that happened between the pages. The title of the story is "**Diary of Destiel: Between the Pages**". I've read it, it's great! So, if you want more Destiel (of the graphic kind) check it out!**  
**

* * *

**45**

_March 14__th__, 2025_

_A girl from school invited you – and basically your entire year – to her birthday party. I know you don't like me calling anything you do or say 'cute' these days, but it's damn cute to watch how nervous you are. Oh well, it is the first party you'll be attending that neither one of your two best friends is hosting. I'm not quite sure going to Balthazar for party-related advice is such a hot idea, however._

* * *

"Ewww, Balthy, put on some pants!" Gabriel exclaimed, putting his hands in front of his eyes. Granted, his brother was wearing a bathrobe and boxer shorts, but he still hadn't been prepared for a sight like that when he had popped into the blonde angel's residence in Corsica.

"Brother, showing up unannounced you are quite lucky I am even wearing this much," Balthazar replied casually. Actually, the teenager was lucky that his brother was wearing as much as he was and that he was alone. It wasn't that long ago that he might have gotten an eyeful of things he surely would have wanted to see even less.

"That's why I wanted to talk to you," the archangel stated, nodding decisively. Out of all the people he knew Balthazar had seemed to be the best suited to give him an insight into the things he wanted to know about. Granted, that didn't have much to do with his current choice of wardrobe. It had a lot to do with his general lifestyle, however.

"I'm intrigued. And a little worried," Balthazar admitted, changing into one of his favorite v-neck shirts and a pair of tight jeans with a thought. Chances were he'd have to be very careful about the things he spoke to his brother about in the next minutes. He didn't fancy Sam Winchester hunting him down with holy oil and an angel blade for putting all the wrong things into the still rather innocent teenager's mind.

"I'm invited to a party tonight," Gabriel explained, sitting down on a brilliantly white couch that didn't look like anybody had ever sat on it before, "Julie invited everyone and her parents aren't going to be there."

The way the teenager's voice had gotten all secretive at the last part made very clear that the other parents and especially Sam didn't know about that little detail. The adult angel wasn't going to rat the kids out, for sure. Gabriel was nearly fifteen, so he was old enough for whatever might happen in Balthazar's opinion.

"I'm going with Melody and she's," the archangel trailed off, feeling how his ears got hot and undoubtedly all red.

To tell the truth, he had wanted to go with Sophie at first, but Sophie had said that going with a friend was sort of lame, because that meant that you weren't able to get a date.

Ever since Gabriel had decided that he probably wasn't cut out to be one of the jocks or one of the overly cool kids and had instead concentrated on just being himself, which included playing more or less creative pranks on everyone who thought they had to annoy him or one of his friends, he had become more popular among the students. It looked like popularity was something that was easier to get once you had decided that you didn't want it, it was really funny in a way.

"Say no more, brother," Balthazar grinned. At first they'd have to get Gabriel out of those all too ordinary clothes he wore and then they'd have to do something about that messy mop of hair on his head. Everything else shouldn't be much of a problem after that.

"But I just wanted to know… You know… What do I do? What do we talk about?" the archangel managed to say after his brother had already subjected him to three outfit changes. He had shaken his head to every single one of them, because he was going to a normal teenager party and not to one of the balls they often showed in movies.

"That's fairly simple," Balthazar replied, deciding to go with something closer to the normal clothes his brother wore for the next try, "You tell her she never looked better and ask her how her day has been. You shouldn't have to say much more after that. You take her hand and don't let go as long as you don't have to. But most important of all, don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Gabriel nodded along with the things the blonde angel was telling him. He finally felt like they were getting somewhere, even if that last point really could mean anything.

* * *

"Cas, put that thing away, goddammit!" Dean groaned loud enough to be heard in front of the motel room where his nephew was currently standing. Not that the older Winchester knew that. "I'm not in the mood for that game."

Gabriel shuddered. He suddenly was very grateful that he had made sure to appear outside of the motel room where he knew his uncle and dark-haired brother were.

"It is the sole purpose of –" Castiel was saying just as the archangel finally knocked and opened the door very slowly just in case.

Whatever the teenager had expected, his older brother holding his Teddy bear in Dean-like clothes to his chest while his uncle had his arms crossed in front of his chest with a sour expression hadn't been it.

"Hi uncle Dean, Cas," Gabriel grinned, waving at the two adults.

He had decided to pay those two a visit after Balthazar had been satisfied with the outfit and hairstyle he had given him. The teenager liked the black jeans, red shirt with black jacket combination enough, he wasn't completely sure about the slicked back hair with side parting, however.

"I need some advice," the archangel added before either one of them could have asked what he was doing there.

"No to the hair," Dean immediately replied, walking up to his nephew to run his fingers through the teenagers hair until the stupid part was gone and it was only slicked back slightly but not too strictly. The older Winchester wouldn't let his nephew run around looking like a douche if he could help it, no matter what the teenager had actually wanted to talk about.

"Thanks. That was part of it," Gabriel started before he told them about the party and the girl he was going with. He also made sure that Cas understood that he would smite his ass, if his brother said even one word to his father about the things they were speaking about. It was doubtful that Castiel would rat him out on purpose, but he sure talked about the most inconvenient things at inconvenient times quite regularly.

"Okay, Gabe. Do you know what first base is?" Dean asked after considering everything he had heard for a little while. He couldn't let his nephew go in there blind, after all. Explaining the base system to him should also be a good possibility to make sure that he knew where the border of acceptable behavior was.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and nodded. He had been in High School for half a year, of course he knew how these things worked. "First base is mouth-to-mouth, second is touching boobs, third is… other stuff and fourth is… all the other stuff."

For all he knew Toshio had even reached second base with Molly Kingsley already, but the boob touching had been more of an accident, so they weren't entirely sure if it counted. Then again, the archangel wasn't exactly sure if the kisses Sophie had given him when they had been younger counted as first base, either.

Listening to his younger brother's explanation, Castiel's expression became so thoughtful that Dean just knew the angel was about to say something very stupid, but he didn't know how to prevent it from happening all the same.

"We have never reached second base then," the dark-haired angel pointed out, "Neither one of us has the physical attributes required for it."

The older Winchester couldn't keep himself from facepalming. Like they really needed to discuss that sort of stuff when they had their nephew and little brother around!

"Cas," Dean started, putting a hand on the dark-haired angel's shoulder, "Let's just say… All your bases belong to me."

Gabriel seriously considered teleporting himself out of there before he heard even more things he could never unhear. At least, they weren't doing anything!

"Okay, back to the topic on hand," the older Winchester clapped his hands once to get his nephew's full attention again, "First and second base are a-okay for the party setting. You go any further and I will deny that this talk ever happened and that I had anything to do with it, capiche?"

The teenager nodded. Hell, he was worried enough about first base, he wasn't going to even consider anything more!

"Maybe you would like to consider saving all these things for your future life-partner," Castiel suddenly suggested. The angel knew that he had just voiced what Dean called an 'unpopular opinion', but he thought that his brother should at least give the possibility a thought.

Gabriel pulled a face at that. Waiting had never been his strong point and finding the one person who was just perfect for him might take quite some time! Besides, as he understood it, the base-stuff started from scratch with a new partner, anyway. So even if he got to first base with Melody, he'd still have to go to first base first with whomever he dated in the future.

"Cas, not everyone has your patience and balls of steel," Dean retorted with a snort.

The archangel was gone before he heard the end of the sentence Castiel had just started with, "You know very well that my tes-"

The older Winchester chuckled at that and finally took the Dean-bear the angel had still been holding loosely from him to throw the thing across the room. He had gotten the message, Balthazar had given the bear to his brother in case he didn't get cuddled enough. Castiel wasn't going to need it in the nearer future, however.

* * *

"Your dad's cool," Melody commented after Sam had let the two teenagers out of the car in front of Julie's house with the promise to pick them up again at half past ten, so they could get her home before eleven like her parents had demanded. "My parents always give me a long list of stuff I can't do."

"We had that talk back at home," Gabriel grinned. He really was quite grateful that his father only had told them to have fun after they had picked up Melody, though. Not to mention that their previous talk had been mostly about what Balthazar and Dean had told him so Sam could cut the losses. The archangel had carefully avoided mentioning anything about bases or the fact that there was no parental supervision at the party, of course.

"You know, what you did to Trent was just awesome," the girl stated before the archangel had a chance to do as his brother had told him and compliment her looks and ask how her day had been.

Gabriel's face was a mask of innocence he had brought to perfection months ago as he replied, "I didn't do anything to Trent."

The incident Melody was referring to had happened about two weeks ago when one of their resident school bullies had screamed like a little girl in the middle of the hallway where everyone could see and hear, because a puppet left over from some Halloween decorations had been put into his locker so it would basically fly into his face the next time he opened it. It had suited the idiot right for humiliating a girl from their year in front of everyone with a secret love letter he had stolen from her bag and then shown around. It had only seemed fair that he should be the one everyone was laughing about for a change!

"Everyone knows it was you," Melody insisted. It might have taken a while to figure out who the one who always was pulling pranks on the students and teachers who thought they had to put others down was, but over the course of a couple of months it had become apparent that Gabriel or his two best friends had always been involved in one way or another. Everyone knew it, but nobody had ever been able to prove anything.

The archangel's smirk was conspiratorial, but his shrug was ever so casual. When he, Toshio and Sophie had first decided to put a few of the stupid older kids who liked to harass them for being nerds in their place they had also sworn that neither one of them would ever admit anything to anyone. As long as there were only rumors about them being the culprits but nobody knew for sure or had any evidence against them there was nothing much anybody could do to them.

To tell the truth, for the most part Sophie and Toshio were the ones that came up with the victims of their next pranks – all people who really deserved it, which was another one of the rules that couldn't be broken under any circumstances – and helped with the ideas and the mechanics of what should be done to them, but Gabriel was the one to set things into motion. It suited the teenage Winchester just right, too. His two friends didn't exactly have the possibilities to do things without ever being spotted he had. They both might be very curious about how he managed to pull a few of the pranks they had come up with off, but he had gotten away with insisting that it was safer for them, if they didn't have knowledge only the perpetrator could possibly have.

"It was funny as hell to hear him squeal, anyway," Gabriel chuckled, finally taking her hand as they walked into the house. The way the other teenager nodded and squeezed his hand let him know that she completely agreed with him and that his brother had given him some pretty good advice.

As it turned out Mel's day had been eventless and she would much rather hear more about Gabriel, however. So he ended telling her a lot about his little sister and how she was starting to run really quickly and give their father a run for his money. He also mentioned how Emma had totally started with saying his name before anyone else's and how proud he was of her in general.

"You're pretty sweet for a prankster," the girl commented with a light blush, leaning a little closer which in turn made the archangel blush.

What followed definitely counted as first base.

* * *

_Gabe, I am pleased that you told me about that party lacking parental figures around. Not so pleased that you only told me once you were back at home. Your mother thinks it's great that you came clean without having to though and I couldn't agree more._


	46. Chapter 46

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, FireChildSlytherin5, Maddy Love Castiel, Keefer, kb18142, CherylB1964, Avalonemyst, musicfeind2392, starshaker, SARA1988, RachelPhobia and Purpura Avis for last chapter's reviews!

So, I have decided to end this story at chapter 50. The question is, do you want an epilogue about a few things the future is going to hold for Gabe, or should I leave it up to the imagination?

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**46**

_June 3__rd__, 2025_

_I am trying to teach Emma how to swim this year. It's our little side project while you work on becoming the biggest prankster your high school has ever seen._

* * *

As it turned out the 'daddy/mommy and me' swimming classes for toddlers weren't Emma's thing – the schedule they moved at apparently hadn't been made for little stubborn Winchesters – and Sam's patience for instructors who tried to tell him how to handle his daughter had been nearly at its end by the time their second lesson had been over, as well.

Instead the younger Winchester had decided to go back to a method that had hardly ever failed him before and had done his research to simply teach Emma himself.

On the plus side, the toddler was pretty comfortable around water already, on the minus side she turned into a clingy little kraken the moment they got anywhere near the pool. Oh, she was obviously enjoying being in the water, she just didn't want to loosen the grip she had on her father's neck while she babbled on about nice water and having fun.

"You know princess, being in the water on your own is fun, too," Sam stated after just wading through the pool, his daughter firmly attached to his neck, for a while.

Emma regarded her father, fixing her green eyes on him for a few moments before she shook her head, "No."

The younger Winchester couldn't help chuckling at that. He knew that the toddler understood more things than she could express in words herself, but chances were she hadn't really understood what he had said and had just decided to shoot the request down for the hell of it.

There weren't many people at the pool that day, so Sam decided to move them over to the stairs where Emma could just sit on the top step and splash about to her heart's content. She would be ready to just give actual swimming a chance eventually and it wasn't like they didn't have the time to wait. If she just wanted to be carried through water for the moment being that was alright, too.

Sure enough the little girl let go of her father as soon as they got seated by the stairs. The two pigtails Sam had decided to put her light brown hair into that day were bobbing up and down happily as she splashed around, kicking her little legs and generally getting herself and her father at least as wet as they would have been, if they had actually gotten to the swimming, or rather to the exercises that came before swimming.

"Em, daddy loves you," the younger Winchester said, patting her head affectionately, "But sometimes he doesn't understand you."

Luckily they had Gabriel for that and summer holidays were just around the corner which meant that the teenager would have some time to come along and tell his sister what the actual purpose of all this was soon enough. It looked like the archangel would have to attend quite a few parties – with parental supervision unless announced otherwise beforehand as he had promised – and other meetings, however. He had gotten rather popular among his peers over the months and his two best friends required a lot of time, as well.

"Do you want to walk down the stairs? Like you do at home?" Sam asked when it looked like Emma was getting a little bored.

The toddler immediately shook her head yelling 'no', but she took her father's offered hand and went up and down the three first steps a few times, getting further into the water with less contact to Sam than she had ever before. The younger Winchester was all too willing to count that as a win.

"That's a good girl," Sam praised the toddler, kissing the top of her head as his daughter snuggled up against him once more. She wasn't holding onto him with a vise-like grip this time however, so he decided to give something more like swimming a try once more. Emma didn't seem tired or stressed at all, so it shouldn't be too much for her.

"Alright, Emma, we're going back in and daddy will hold you, but not as close as before," the younger Winchester announced, slowly walking back into the pool until the water reached up to his chest while holding the toddler nearly at arms length. She couldn't even try out any leg movements, if he had been holding her as close as before, so this should be the next step to trying to get her used to making the right moves.

The little exercise very quickly turned into more of a struggle when Emma desperately wanted to get back to just clinging to her father. Sam gave up immediately when it became clear that she was getting distressed, but it was too late to keep her from crying while they got out of the water completely.

The younger Winchester made silent soothing noises, rubbing her back and finally wrapping her into one of the towels they had brought along which calmed her down enough for the tears to stop falling, even if she was still pouting and looking at her father accusingly.

"Bad daddy," Emma sniffed, cuddling up to him, anyway. Her brother had told her before that she wasn't supposed to say things like that, but she had been displeased with their father and somehow needed to tell him that. Maybe she would get Gabriel to tell him what exactly she had meant by that later, if it still seemed important to her by then.

"Okay, okay, next time you set the pace from beginning to end," Sam promised, letting her bounce on his knee until she was laughing again. Of course, it wasn't that great to be scolded by your two year old, but he possibly deserved it just a little. He had gotten a bit impatient and had tried to push her into something she wasn't ready for yet, after all.

Sam's contemplations were interrupted when his cell phone suddenly went off.

"Mr. Winchester, principal Finnley wants to discuss a matter concerning your son with you personally."

Now that didn't sound promising.

* * *

"Gabe!" Emma yelled as soon as she spotted her older brother. The toddler let go of her father's hand immediately and ran to the teenager to hug him.

Gabriel really had tried to look all innocent with just a hint of anxiety – which they obviously expected from him – before, but the moment his little sister came running toward him a big grin replaced everything else.

Sam noticed that the principal's secretary looked at the two siblings with a smile which he took as a good sign. She had been rather short-spoken but polite on the phone as well which also spoke for her being okay. For all he had heard talking to the principal should be unpleasant enough by itself, anyway.

"You can go in," the woman informed him after checking with her boss.

"Thank you. Come on then, buddy," the younger Winchester nodded curtly and waved for his son. Gabriel immediately followed the prompt and picked Emma up to walk over to their father, his little sister wrapping her arms around his neck tightly and leaning her head against his shoulder as they moved.

"Only you, Mr. Winchester," the secretary pointed out with a nearly apologetic shrug.

Oh well, she was most likely only following instructions here. Not that Sam intended to stick to them.

"Look, he's fifteen. If we're going to talk about him, he's old enough to hear it," the younger Winchester replied politely, putting a hand on the teenager's shoulder as a sign that he was definitely going to take him to the talk with him. Hell, if Gabriel was old enough to be accused of whatever it was they were accusing him of, then he clearly was old enough to hear of it, too.

Sam had known what the school's principal looked like from pictures on their homepage, but he had to say that up, close and personal he looked not quite as nice. It didn't help that Mari had had a meeting with the man before and had found nothing but complaints and curse words to describe him afterward. And that even though she hadn't even had to go there because of something Toshio had done. Mari simply had gotten very involved with a lot of school related things and had had to discuss a few of them with the principal.

The greetings exchanged were short and principal Finnley was obviously displeased by the blatant disregard of his wishes bringing Gabriel inside constituted.

"This morning a number of staff members and students of the higher years discovered that their cars had been broken into," the other man began to explain.

The younger Winchester immediately felt more relaxed after hearing that. Gabriel hadn't broken into any cars, that was for sure!

"And the sun visors on the driver's side on each one had been manipulated to rain down large amounts of glitter as soon as they were hinged down," the principal finished.

That sounded a lot like something Gabriel would do, though. Sam made a mental note that his son wasn't going to break into any cars to steal something, but he would to leave – cough – presents of the unwanted kind. On the outside all the younger Winchester did was nodding and frowning slightly, however.

"I assume you think my son had something to do with this, otherwise I'd find it hard to believe you'd call me to school over a handful of glitter," Sam replied rather casually. Actually, being ordered to show up immediately over a handful of glitter was an overreaction in any case.

"Your son is the prime suspect," the principal confirmed which caused Gabriel to pull a face like he couldn't believe anyone could possibly think something like that. The teenager knew all too well that there were a lot of people who would immediately come to that conclusion and suspect him, however. Not that any of them had any evidence.

"Okay, I'd like to see or hear the evidence," the younger Winchester politely asked before his son had even finished the thought about how there surely was none. Sam might have never gotten to the end of his law studies, but that didn't mean he wasn't able to tap into the lawyer-mindset when it was convenient.

"Some of the affected people named him as the most likely person to have done this," principal Finnley answered a little evasively. As a matter of fact, there was nothing in the way of evidence he could have shown the adult and nobody had really seen the one responsible for the glittery showers those fourteen people had gotten. The name Gabriel Winchester had come up a lot when pranks had been played in the past months, however. "Not to mention that your son's behavior in class has shown that he obviously has a problem with respecting authority before."

The teenager's name had also come up a couple of times when teachers had been complaining about him questioning the rules or standard procedures like no other student and apparently he liked to call them out on mistakes they sometimes made in their lessons.

"I'm afraid that might run in the family. You're going to have a lot of fun with this one, once she's old enough for high school," Sam shrugged, pointing toward Emma for a moment which prompted the toddler to stick her tongue out at him. She obviously already understood the meaning and importance of perfect timing.

"I don't think you are taking this seriously," the other man huffed, trying and failing to make father and son feel like the situation was indeed very serious.

"Mr. Finnley, I am taking this very seriously, but as I see it you have no hard evidence whatsoever that my son even had anything to do with these pranks you speak about. How should he have been able to manipulate a number of cars at once without anyone seeing him, anyway? This sounds more like the work of a group of students to me. Are you sure this isn't some sort of graduation prank? And before you say it, why wouldn't some of those older students put glitter in their own cars to keep you from suspecting them?" the younger Winchester replied without giving the other man the chance to interrupt him, "I am also taking it very seriously that you have kept my son from his English literature class on grounds of unfounded accusations and are now keeping him back after school just because some people said that perhaps, maybe, possibly he might somehow have something to do with that glittery prank."

Oh, Dean would be so proud of his younger brother for getting on the principal's nerves like that. It seemed to be working in any case. The other man didn't look quite as convinced of the teenager's guilt as he had when they had started their talk. He looked rather pissed off with Sam, however.

"Gabriel, did you pull that prank on those people?" the younger Winchester asked to hopefully end this conversation quickly. It really was about time they all got to go home, after all.

"No," the archangel replied with the perfect mix of innocence and annoyance about even being accused in his voice. Emma cocked her head at her bigger brother and hugged him again to comfort him. She was pretty sure that this was about something not too nice and he always liked her hugs, anyway.

"I believe him and even if you don't, you know how this goes, innocent until proven guilty," Sam stated in a tone that didn't allow any objections, even if the principal quite obviously didn't like it. Oh well, the two adults didn't have to become friends as long as the guy left Gabriel alone.

It was shortly after that that the three Winchesters left the principal's office again. The archangel waved good bye to the secretary who shook her head in amusement and waved back slightly.

"Dad?" Gabriel said in a hushed tone once they had left the building, "I did it. I mean, I know you wanted me to lie earlier, but I don't like lying to you. So, yeah, I did it."

"I know," Sam shrugged, "Think you can keep a low profile for the rest of the school year?"

The principal had blown the entire thing out of proportion in his opinion, anyway. Not to mention that he'd always defend his son no matter what the teenager did. Under different circumstances there might have been consequences once they were back at home, but as things were the prank had been harmless enough.

"That's like three days, dad," Gabriel rolled his eyes.

The younger Winchester only gave the archangel a meaningful look and a raised eyebrow. Three days might not sound like much, but knowing the teenager it might as well have been three months.

"Sounds manageable," Gabriel stated, raising his hand to vow, "No more pranks from now on."

Sam couldn't say that he liked the way that had been worded. He might not have thought about it too much, if he hadn't known how creative the archangel could get with the way he was wording things so they always were technically true. "What did you do?"

"Marshmallows in the principal's car? I got a perfect alibi this time, though. I mean we all were in his office at the time!" the teenager hurried to explain. Sophie was at her drama club meeting and Toshio was talking to his physics and chemistry tutor, so the two of them should be safe from accusations, as well.

"Couldn't hurt the guy to be a little sweeter," the younger Winchester shrugged lightly. Besides, the marshmallows wouldn't do any damage to the car that couldn't be undone with a good cleaning most likely. Dean might have had an entirely different opinion on car-related pranks, however.

"You're the best," Gabriel grinned, hugging his father, even though they were still close enough to school to be seen, if anyone happened to look their way.

"Good daddy," Emma agreed, joining the hugging, even if she only reached their legs.

* * *

_They all don't even know how lucky they are that you didn't drop them into TV-land!_


	47. Chapter 47

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, CherylB1964, RachelPhobia, Purpura Avis, Keefer, Juliette-Kissrose, Avalonemyst, musicfiend2392, MishaIsMyCastiel, starshaker, SARA1988, NyxRo and one guest for last chapter's reviews! You are all awesome!**  
**

Also, Larkafree decided to make her Destiel Diaries a multi-chapter story, if she gets a good response for them. The second chapter is up now :-)

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**47**

_January 1__st__, 2026_

_I really didn't like the look on your uncle's face when we left you to stay over at Bobby and Jody's with him, Cas and Balthazar for the night._

* * *

"Happy New Year," Valerie said in a soft tone, kissing her husband for a few long moments while around them their other family members did more or less the same.

Actually, Balthazar, Gabriel and Emma were the only ones who remained unkissed, because that year even Dean managed to swallow his pride and give Cas at least a quick peck to the lips. It wasn't long before Gabriel and Balthazar got hugged, however.

Emma had fallen asleep on Bobby's recliner hours before midnight and was sleeping through all the New Year wishes until her father picked her up carefully to carry her outside and back to their home where the nearly three year old could rest in her own bed. Of course, her eyes shot open the moment they wanted to leave, however.

"We're gonna get you to your own bed," Val told her daughter, brushing a few stray curls away from her face.

"No!" Emma yelled predictably, looking up at her father with a pout, "Not tired!"

Lately, the toddler had started to despise bedtime, or rather the mention of anything having to do with going to bed or going to sleep. The younger Winchester had asked Gabriel if he had picked up on any nightmares his sister was having or anything alike, but the archangel had said that she was only being stubborn. Testing boundaries it was then. They could deal with that.

"Mhm," Sam hummed and nodded slightly, "We're just going to get you under the covers and then we'll read you stories and you don't ever have to sleep."

Val chuckled, but nodded seriously when her daughter looked over to her. It was highly unlikely that they'd even have to read her one entire story before she was going to be back in dream land.

Emma didn't reply, but leaned her head against her father's chest, obviously satisfied with what she had heard.

"Gabe's going to stay here over night. Start the new year with a sleepover including his awesome uncle, awesome brother and other brother," Dean stated, putting a hand on his nephew's shoulder to keep the teenager right where he was. They hadn't spoken about this beforehand, but it wasn't like the archangel was so likely to decline an invitation like that.

"Call the FBI, if they haven't let me go by dinnertime," Gabriel joked, hugging both his parents and kissing his little sister's forehead before the three of them left. Emma really had to be tired if she didn't make a fuss about him not coming along, but that suited them all just right that very moment.

"You idjits make sure that our house is still standing in the morning!" Bobby demanded gruffly before he and Jody retired for the night as well. The sheriff had to go back to work in the morning and the days when the older hunter had more or less enjoyed staying up all night had been over for a while already, too. Besides, Bobby had a niggling feeling that he didn't want to see for what purpose Dean had insisted to keep Gabriel around. Being the responsible grandfather he was he might have felt bound to be the resident fun killer otherwise. He would have had to call them all idjits and hit the back of a few heads for sure.

"Awesome," the older Winchester grinned, "Now that all the party poopers have left we can finally get to the good part."

The archangel looked at his uncle curiously and followed him back to the living room immediately while Balthazar held Castiel back for a moment.

"You do check him for any sort of mental disease every now and then, don't you?" the blonde angel snarked. Granted, it was obvious enough that Dean had planned something for the teenager and that apparently was the reason why he was acting like a teenager himself. Balthazar wasn't going to let a chance to make a comment about the older Winchester's mental stability go to waste in any case.

"You should learn to show some respect for other people's loved ones," Castiel commented rather coldly, starting to walk after the other two. He did not like listening to Dean talking about Balthazar in a bad way that much and had told the human when he was going too far a couple of times before. Clearly, it would only be fair to let Balthazar know that he should have better kept his opinion to himself, as well.

"Oh, but I do that quite regularly and with most of the people I know," the blonde angel pointed out, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder as they went into the living room, "I only make exceptions for Dean-o, because he is just that special."

Castiel didn't reply, but the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, as if he was trying hard not to smile. Balthazar chose to believe that his brother had just found his last statement funny and wasn't actually pleased because he took it literally.

"I've got two late Christmas presents for you," Dean told his nephew with a grin, handing two badly and barely wrapped things over.

The one was quite clearly a rolled up magazine or something of the kind and the second was a sixpack of beer that just had a bow on top. Gabriel understood why his uncle hadn't given that to him on Christmas. He could imagine the bitchface his father would have pulled at seeing that. Not that the archangel called the disapproving expressions his father often wore when someone did something stupid bitchfaces when he was listening. Also, his uncle had taught him that word, so it was entirely his fault when it came down to it!

"Thanks, uncle Dean," Gabriel stated, trying not to show that he remembered that one time he had been allowed to have some beer very well. Or rather, he remembered just how awful it had tasted. Apparently, he wasn't all that successful with it, however.

"Gabe, you were a kid then," the older Winchester pointed out, "You'll be surprised how much your taste in things can change in just a few years."

The archangel gave his uncle a crooked smile and opened one of the cans to get it over with. He really doubted that he would like the taste this time around, but maybe it wouldn't be quite as bad as it had been, either.

"Like Dean's taste in women changed from busty blondes to," Balthazar quipped, thinking about the correct way to describe his dark-haired brother before he just shrugged and pointed at Cas, "Him."

The first can of beer was emptied pretty quickly after that. Gabriel had focused on the drinking instead of the very unwanted and cringe-worthy pictures his brother's words had brought to his mind and that had made it rather easy to just swallow mouthful after mouthful. He had to say that it really wasn't quite as bad as it had been in his memory, however. Maybe he had built up a bit of a tolerance against bitter things over the years. Not that he particularly liked bitter things, but he certainly didn't despise them with as much of a passion as he had, either.

"I am no woman," Castiel frowned, looking at Dean as if he was actually searching for confirmation. Granted, the angel thought of himself as an angel before anything else and in their original form they were basically sexless beings. Then again, there were quite a few who had always identified themselves as either male or female. Castiel wasn't one of those. However, he had gotten used to and come to appreciate the male form he had and he dared to guess that Dean felt the same in regard to his corporeal form.

The older Winchester could completely understand why his nephew thought it was necessary to open another can so soon after the first at that point. "Give me one too, would you?"

Gabriel nearly wished that he had gone home with the rest of his family, even if that meant possibly being squished by Emma around three a.m. when she would inevitably wake up and decide that she wasn't tired anymore until she crawled into his or their parents' bed and fell asleep again, after all. To be honest, he actually liked it when his little sister did that, anyway. They'd just have to find a way to prevent that from happening, if he should ever bring someone home over night.

The teenager toyed with the string holding the second present together absentmindedly before it even occurred to him to open that one, too. His face turned beet red the moment he saw what his uncle had given him. The porn magazine clearly matched the sixpack in terms of appropriateness, though. Not to mention that his father would have probably had to invent a completely new form of super-bitchface if he had been there to witness this.

"Hey, better you get those things from a responsible and trustworthy adult than from some creep who doesn't check ID," Dean stated with a completely straight face.

It didn't look like either Castiel or Balthazar wanted to object, though their reasons for not thinking that there was anything wrong about this were probably differing.

"Thanks uncle Dean," Gabriel replied. He actually would have been really grateful, if he hadn't been quite as embarrassed. Chances were he'd thoroughly analyze the magazine with Toshio in the next few days and then maybe on his own to make sure they hadn't overlooked any crucial information.

"You don't expect me to… open it any further, do you?" the teenager joked, rolling the magazine up and putting the string back around it.

Surprisingly enough it was the dark-haired angel who answered, though. "It is not socially acceptable to look at anything pornographic in a room with other people, unless –"

Castiel was prevented from revealing anything more by Dean's hand over his mouth. Gabriel emptied his second can of beer after hearing that, anyway. Balthazar obviously thought all of this was hilarious and was just laughing loudly until his teenage brother reached for another beer.

"Try this for a change," the blonde angel suggested, handing a glass of wine to the archangel instead. He really shouldn't think that beer was the only alcohol out there. Balthazar would much rather see him being a wine-drinker. Cocktails, if he had to.

Dean was about to protest, but then he thought better of it. He had been the one to hand a sixpack to Gabriel, he couldn't go and scold Balthazar for giving him some more alcohol now. Not without there being an argument, anyway. The older Winchester wouldn't have minded so much, but he knew that Castiel really didn't like conflict, especially when it involved Dean and the annoying jerk with the British accent. Why the hell did he still have a British accent, anyway? Then again, Crowley had never gotten rid of his, either.

"I can't help but wonder, if we got you the right thing," Castiel said a moment later, prompting the teenager to try much more of the wine than the tentative sip he had had planned on, "There was a wide variety to choose from."

The thought of Dean and Castiel standing in some sort of shop, looking through the adult magazines on sale to figure out which one to buy made Balthazar laugh nearly hysterically while Gabriel only pulled a face and emptied the glass he was holding.

"Did you just," the blonde angel started before he had to stop, because laughter was bubbling up again, "Did you just ask our brother, if he'd have been interested in any special kind of porn? Do enlighten our poor Cassy, Gabriel. Did they choose the right thing or would you have preferred something kinkier?"

Since Bobby wasn't around to do it, Dean chose to hit the stupid angel over the back of the head while muttering 'idjit'. As Castiel might have said, this was no laughing matter! Not to a teenager, anyway. A teenager who had bright red ears and refused to look at any of them anymore.

"You're all just trying to get me drunk!" Gabriel complained, opening the next can of beer while he was at it. For some strange reason drinking the stuff really helped with keeping his mind off the impossible things all the jerks he was related to were talking about.

"Unlikely," the older Winchester explained, "Cas needed an entire liquor store to get noticeably drunk and he was weakened at the time."

Wonderful, so he couldn't even just drink all the things he hadn't actually wanted to hear away! The teenager had sort of hoped that he would wake up the next morning with a killer headache, an adult magazine in his jacket pocket and no memory of the night before. That would have counted as a good option given the current situation.

"I find these very enjoyable," Castiel commented, handing a glass of tequila to the archangel. He knew that giving alcohol to teenagers was questionable at best – in this country, anyway – but since the other two had already done it, he supposed that they could break those rules for Gabriel.

The archangel frowned slightly, but downed the tequila without second thought. He was gasping for breath soon afterward, however. He had sort of known that there was some alcohol that was stronger than other kinds, but he hadn't been prepared for pouring something like that down his throat.

The wine Balthazar handed to him didn't exactly get rid of the burn, but it helped a little.

"Love you, bro," Gabriel stated with a little too much emphasis on the words.

It was soon after that that the three adults found out that the archangel clearly was an angelic lightweight.

* * *

"Good morning," Jody whispered to the teenager who was passed out on the couch in the living room. For all she knew Dean and Castiel had retired to the guest room and Balthazar had probably zapped himself to one of his own residences.

"'M dying," Gabriel moaned, throwing his arm over his eyes to block out the light in the room. He shouldn't have felt bad, that just wasn't right! He never felt bad, for Pete's sake!

The sheriff frowned and leaned a little closer to confirm her suspicion. She had thought she had smelled something before, but hadn't been sure until the teenager had opened his mouth.

Jody sighed and went into the kitchen to get a large glass of water and aspirin for the archangel. Chances were it wouldn't do a thing, but it sure wouldn't hurt to try, even if the most likely outcome was some sort of placebo effect. She also quickly informed Bobby that, 'The idjits got your grandson drunk and now he's hungover' before going back to the living room.

Gabriel accepted the water and pill gratefully and cuddled up to Jody as much as he hadn't done since he had been much younger. The boy really had to feel like crap.

As if it wasn't bad enough that three supposedly at least somewhat responsible adults had handed out enough alcohol to get an archangel drunk under the roof of the local sheriff, her eyes also fell on a magazine that clearly wasn't suitable for someone Gabriel's age, either. The evidence that it even belonged to the teenager or that it had been given to him by one of his brothers or his uncle might not have been strong enough for the actual legal system, but as soon as Gabriel let go of her again and laid back on the couch to get a little more rest, Jody grabbed the magazine, rolled it up and went upstairs.

Castiel might not have been asleep to begin with, but he still looked like it surprised him immensely when the magazine connected with the top of his head, even after Dean had already been awoken very suddenly and somewhat painfully by the same thing.

"And give that one to Balthazar," Jody added, whacking Cas over the head again for good measure.

The older Winchester didn't even know how lucky he was that he was still too sleepy and surprised to even chuckle. Anything like a laugh would have gotten him another hit, as well.

"Your nephew and little brother is in pain down there," the sheriff explained, raising her voice and narrowing her eyes at both men before she dropped the magazine, "And that…"

Lacking the rights words to express any more of her annoyance, Sheriff Mills just threw her arms in the air and went back downstairs.

"She clearly spends too much time around Bobby," Dean finally commented, falling back into the pillows and pulling Cas with him. Before he went back to sleep he made a mental note to give the magazine back to Gabriel later. It had been a gift, after all.

* * *

_Balthazar's theory is that your body is just a touch more connected to your body than that of the average angel which might make you more receptive to things like alcohol. He also says that he knows exactly it was you who sent the splitting headache his way. Happy New Year!_


	48. Chapter 48

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, Rachel Phobia, FireChildSlytherin5, Hesta101, Shorty22133, Keefer, musicfiend2392, kb18142, Avalonemyst, CherylB1964 and Pizzapig for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

* * *

**48**

_July 7__th__, 2026_

_Other than your friends you have never been that enthusiastic about learning how to drive, so you only just go your learner's permit. Your uncle threatened you that he'd mock you mercilessly, if you hadn't gotten out on the streets at least once before his next visit. It looks like that finally motivated you to give it a try._

* * *

"I don't wanna," Gabriel nearly whined, fastening his seatbelt once he had gotten into the driver's side of the car.

Sam had found them a mostly empty parking lot next to an old factory for their first try at driving. It was quite obvious that the thought of driving a car was stressing the teenager, so he had figured that it would be better to at least take other drivers out of the equation for the moment being. He still didn't understand what his son was nervous about to begin with, though. The archangel had done very well with the theory and had the best reflexes imaginable, after all.

"I can fly places, I don't need to drive," Gabriel sighed, adjusting the seat and mirrors to his still considerably shorter frame. There was no shame in being shorter than a Sasquatch however, as Crowley had told him once. The archangel couldn't help thinking that the king of hell's attitude might have been a completely different one, had he not been rather short himself.

"Alright, where does this sudden hate of our car come from?" Sam asked with a curiously raised eyebrow, putting a hand on his son's shoulder to get the teenager's full attention. Granted, the archangel had never been that enthusiastic about the possibility of getting to drive a car himself, but he had never complained about driving to some place instead of just zapping himself there, either. The younger Winchester actually had thought that his son sort of liked the normalcy of being driven to and from school and all these things.

"I don't hate the car," Gabriel replied immediately, turning sideways to look his father in the eyes, "It's just… a lot of responsibility."

The younger Winchester's first impulse had been to laugh at that. His son, the archangel with access to heavenly powers great enough to level entire cities, if not nations, with hardly more than a thought seriously considered driving a human-built vehicle a lot of responsibility. Of course, he was right in a sense, though.

"Do you really think I'd push this on you, if I didn't think you were ready for it?" Sam asked in a gentle tone. In fact, all the younger Winchester wanted was for his son to give the experience a chance. If the teenager decided that it wasn't for him after giving it a try then that would be completely okay.

"You're pushing this, because you know that uncle Dean will mock us both, if I don't learn to drive," the archangel huffed, before he added more silently, "Not like he'll ever let me get near the Impala, anyway."

Castiel had been allowed to learn to drive in the Impala and had described the experience as 'straining' which meant a lot coming from that particular angel. Chances were Dean was about as laid back as Mari when it came to driving lessons. Toshio loved being able to drive, but he often said that he would be deaf before he got his driver's license, if his mother kept yelling it him every time he did the littlest thing she didn't approve of. Yes, Gabriel didn't want to get anywhere close to the Impala as long as that included having Dean on the co-driver's seat, that was for sure!

"Pretty sure that his last will currently says you'll get it, if you promise not to install any ipods, ipads or anything comparable," Sam pointed out with a light shrug. He didn't mention that for all he knew his older brother's current last will had been written as a morbid and somewhat bad joke while under the influence and also included a part about mixing half of his ashes with salt and making bullets out of the mixture while the other half was to be scattered in the rock part of the rock and roll hall of fame.

The point about Gabriel being the next Winchester male in line still stood even after Dean had sobered up again, anyway.

The archangel sighed but nodded decisively. He'd prefer driving lessons to talking about any last wills of any family members, for sure. It clearly was a sign of love and trust that his uncle planned to pass his beloved car on to him, but that didn't mean that he wanted to think about the fact that humans weren't immortal.

"Okay, turn the key," the younger Winchester instructed once his son was seated and looked ready to go, "Put your foot on the break and release the hand break."

Gabriel went through the motions as his father dictated them. He knew that Sophie really enjoyed driving. In fact, she was the one of the three of them who had already gotten her license – at the second try, because apparently her father's idea of what good driving was wasn't exactly the same as the examiner's – and Toshio was only still stuck at the learner's permit, because Mari wouldn't allow him to take the test before he would ace it.

Even as the car slowly started to move, Gabriel didn't exactly get what was supposed to be so cool about this. Riding shotgun or even sitting on the backseat was much more relaxing. It wasn't like his dad didn't drive him anywhere he wanted to go, if he for some reason couldn't or shouldn't just fly there.

"Doing great, buddy," Sam commented, after he had let the teenager drive in big circles over the parking lot for a little while. It looked like Gabriel was getting a little more used to the feeling with every passing minute. Saying that he was having a blast would definitely be a lie, but he didn't look like he had just been told that he had to go to the dentist anymore, either.

"Dad, do I have to do this the normal way?" the teenager asked with a slightly mischievous grin as inspiration suddenly hit him. He didn't know why he hadn't thought of it earlier, but he was a freaking archangel, it wasn't like he had to limit himself to the way of the humans in this! Being allowed to use some mojo for the driving would also help him to worry less about anything going wrong. If he controlled the car with his powers then he knew he was in full control of the thing for sure.

"Ground rules," the younger Winchester replied thoughtfully, "It should look like you're not doing anything out of the ordinary from the outside. Other than that, go ahead, do your worst."

The change Gabriel's entire being went through in the matter of seconds would have been unbelievable to anyone who didn't know him. Gone was the somewhat discontented and rather apprehensive teenager, replaced by a gleefully grinning kid who was obviously thinking of all the possibilities that had just been opened to him.

Within the next minutes they went through driving without hands, driving while sitting cross legged, driving and parking with closed eyes and doing various 360° turns. 'Nothing out of the ordinary' might not have been entirely the right way to describe all this, but in the end Gabriel was obviously finally having fun and it was likely that he fully understood that out on the streets he really would have to act different. Thinking about it, they probably should put that to the test.

"You feeling up to driving us to someplace we can have dinner?" Sam asked, satisfied with the way the teenager nodded and put both hands on the wheel and his feet to the pedals. "Does it really make that much of a difference to you, if you get to use a bit of mojo?"

Gabriel considered the question for a few long moments as he set the right signals and waited for a chance to get their car on the road without disturbing traffic.

"I guess I feel… more connected to things when I get my archangel on," the teenager tried to explain, "Like I am not only driving the car, a part of me is in the car and I get to control it much better."

The younger Winchester nodded thoughtfully, sparing glances at the turn signals Gabriel was setting, the speed he was driving at and their general surroundings like he was supposed to. He had suspected that there wouldn't be much to criticize before they had even started and he apparently had been right. Sam wouldn't even call the use of some angelic powers cheating. His son was merely using his God-given abilities which could hardly count as cheating, after all.

"That's great," the younger Winchester said out loud to make completely sure that the teenager understood that he approved.

"I know you wanted me to try the normal way," Gabriel replied with a slight shrug. He couldn't help feeling like he was somehow disappointing his father. Hell, his uncle probably would be very disappointed once he heard of this.

"There's nothing more overrated than _normal_," Sam stated seriously, touching his son's shoulder for a moment.

The teenager hadn't even realized that he had been somewhat tense until he relaxed after hearing his father say something like that without even the slightest hint of insincerity.

* * *

They reached the diner without any incidents. Gabriel clearly looked happy and pleased with himself when he got out of the car and handed the keys over to his father.

Once they had gotten their drinks and were waiting for their sandwiches to arrive it was Sam's turn to feel a little nervous and looking like he'd much rather be someplace else. The teenager frowned at his father, waiting for whatever it was the adult was not yet saying.

"Okay, we've had the entire birds and the bees talk," the younger Winchester finally started, which immediately made Gabriel look a little uncomfortable as well, "It's just that you've been dating a lot lately, so I figured we should talk about this from a less theoretical point of view."

The archangel nearly choked on his soda before his father had even stopped speaking. It was true, he had taken out a bunch of girls from school over the past few months, or they had asked him out, or they had met somewhere and it had turned into something like a date. The point was, he had dated a number of girls and a handful of them more than once, too.

"Uh… too late?" Gabriel grinned meekly. There really wasn't much that he had never told his father about, but in this case he just hadn't known how to work that bit of information into a normal talk. He really hadn't wanted to make a big deal out of it in any case. For all it was hyped up to be, it really hadn't been a big deal, after all.

"The… uh… practical exam was taken back in April," the teenager added when the adult didn't seem to find the right words to say anything more. To tell the truth, he was starting to enjoy obviously making his dad a little uncomfortable.

"Okay," Sam nodded slowly, still trying to sort his thoughts out enough to say something fitting, "That's a surprise."

The point where Gabriel could only laugh was definitely reached that very moment. He really hadn't been too worried about what his father or anyone else in the family might think about him losing his virginity, he just had wanted to wait for a good moment to tell them. Since the good moment hadn't come before Sam had more or less asked, he had just told him the truth like he basically always did.

"No worries, dad," the archangel grinned, after the waitress had brought their meal and was out of earshot again, "I know what condoms are and how to use them and she definitely knew what she was doing."

It had been quite some time since the younger Winchester had cringed as hard as he was that moment, but it still was somewhat good to hear that everything had gone smoothly – for a lack of better word. He really didn't want any more details, however. Not that Gabriel was so likely to say much more than he already had.

"Just one more thing," Sam promised, "Please, tell me that neither Dean nor Balthazar gave you any advice on this."

It would help a lot to know for sure that neither one of those two had told Gabriel what was and wasn't appropriate when it came to having sex for the first time. Yes, the younger Winchester found it a lot easier to trust that his teenage son was making the right decisions when it came to getting involved with someone by himself than to believe that Dean or Balthazar would find the right kind of advice for the situation.

"Hell no!" the teenager replied immediately. Granted, he had gone to his brother and his uncle for dating advice, but he would have never asked them what he should do when it came to sex! First of all, he wouldn't have wanted to hear anything about their sex-lives and no matter what they would have said, he would have had to assume that they were speaking from experience. He really didn't need those mental pictures! Besides, he was pretty sure that both of them would have been too – cough – advanced to give him suitable advice for beginners.

"Good, that's good," Sam sighed relieved, which caused Gabriel to look at him quizzically and forced him to add, "I trust you completely, Gabe. I just don't trust them!"

Alright, he trusted his older brother and the angel completely with a lot of things, but not in this matter. Their track record clearly spoke against either one of them, even if Dean had been in a monogamous relationship for quite some time now. Sam just knew that he wouldn't exactly advertise that longer lasting relationships were the way to go, at least not for someone of Gabriel's age. Granted, it didn't look like the teenager had been in a relationship with the girl he had slept with. It seemed unlikely that he would have never introduced her as his girlfriend, if he had been. This far he hadn't brought anyone home, however.

"Dad, your sixteen year old son just told you that he has already had sex before and you just say you trust him completely?" the archangel raised an eyebrow before he reached over the table to shove his father's shoulder playfully, "You're so weird sometimes!"

Gabriel just knew that Mari and Jiro would completely lose their shit, if they knew that Toshio had already done his fair share of experimentation – possibly even more than his best friend – and Sophie's father had announced that he would hunt anyone down who dared to touch his little girl only the previous week. Then again, Tom was a stage actor who apparently often had problems getting into his head that the real world wasn't exactly one of his plays. To be fair though, Rebecca had let the words 'all girls' boarding school' slip, as well.

"Oh? You'd like to be grounded or sent to military schools?" Sam asked as seriously as he could say something as ridiculous as that.

"Weird is good, dad," Gabriel shot back in a lecturing tone, "There's nothing more overrated than _normal_."

* * *

_It's good to see that you still consider the worldly wisdoms I'm throwing out there worth listening to._


	49. Chapter 49

**Author's note:** Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, CassXDeano, Purpura Avis, Maddy Love Castiel, Hesta101, Keefer, Avalonemyst, CherylB1964, musicfiend2392, kb18142, FireChildSlytherin5, RachelPhobia and Pizzapig for last chapter's reviews!

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**49**

_April 4__th__, 2027_

_When you said that you didn't want to go to the playground with the rest of us I thought you wanted to have the house for yourself to call your current girlfriend over. How I wish that had been the reason…_

* * *

"We're back," Sam called up the stairs.

"Pizza!" Emma yelled right afterward to make sure her older brother knew that he was supposed to come downstairs quickly so they could eat.

There didn't seem to be any movement upstairs, however. The younger Winchester frowned slightly at that. There hadn't been a pair of shoes that didn't belong to any of them by the door and no jacket, either. It looked like Gabriel should have been alone and it was quite impossible not to hear it when Emma yelled.

Valerie shrugged lightly and took their daughter to wash her hands before dinner while Sam went upstairs to see what was up with the teenager. Val probably was right and it was nothing, but the younger Winchester couldn't quite shake off the bad feeling at the pit of his stomach. He knocked on the door to his son's bedroom and pushed the door open when there was no answer. The archangel was nowhere to be seen, but what he saw made his blood run cold.

"Balthazar, get here immediately," Sam mumbled, concentrating on the angel he wanted to reach with the 'prayer'. He only got to pick up the two things he had seen that had let him know that he really needed angelic assistance on this as quickly as possible before the flutter of wings announced the arrival of the blonde angel.

"There was a time when you were a little more polite. Not by much, mind you," Balthazar snarked, but it was easy enough to see that he was worried because of the way he had been summoned.

The younger Winchester swallowed, handing the note Gabriel had left over to the other man while holding on to the book he had found next to it.

"I'm so sorry," Balthazar read out loud, looking as perplexed as Sam had ever seen him, "What the hell does that mean?"

He didn't wait for an answer before he tried to locate his younger brother. It wasn't exactly promising that he couldn't find him. Then again, Gabriel might have just wanted some privacy. That didn't have to mean anything. Yeah, right…

"It means Gabriel ran away," the younger Winchester managed to say, even though his voice was close to breaking, "He read this and ran away."

He pushed the copy of 'Mystery Spot' he had nearly forgotten he even possessed into the angel's hands and waited for realization to set in. Sam couldn't help feeling like this was his fault. He had told his son stories of his old self, but had always carefully avoided saying anything about that damned endless Tuesday. If he had just, somehow, talked to Gabriel about it, this could have been avoided!

"I can't locate him," Balthazar stated a few long moments later, "He doesn't want to be found."

That wasn't promising at all. The last time Gabriel hadn't wanted to be found he had been missing for hundreds and thousands of years! The angel was pretty sure that Castiel wouldn't be any luckier, but he contacted him over angel radio, anyway. The negative answer combined with a few definitely worried vibes came back nearly immediately. Balthazar ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He had one idea how they might be able to find the teenager, but he didn't exactly like it.

"I could stop intercepting his prayers," the blonde angel suggested anyway, "You could at least get a message through that way. We might even be able to find him, since he doesn't know how to block them."

Sam shook his head resolutely. "He's distressed already. That's only going to add to it."

He remembered all too clearly how Gabriel had reacted to hearing all those prayers for the first time. Of course, he wasn't a little kid anymore, but he wasn't used to them all the same.

"It might be the only way-" Balthazar started to argue before the human interrupted him.

"We can still do that, if everything else fails," the younger Winchester said, sounding much calmer than he felt. He patted the angel's shoulder for a moment before he took a deep breath and prepared himself to go back downstairs and inform Val of what had happened. Then they'd have to call everyone they knew Gabriel might be staying with and hope that the archangel was acting more like a human teenager than the heavenly being he was in this.

"I'll keep looking," Balthazar promised. He'd probably start with paying a visit to heaven to see, if Gabriel had decided to hide there.

The younger Winchester nodded and left the room just as the angel disappeared in a flutter of wings.

* * *

"Gabriel," Valerie exclaimed just a moment before she already had her arms wrapped around the teenager tightly, "Thank God."

The archangel didn't put up any resistance and just let her squeeze him and drag him into the house while Sophie remained standing just outside the door. The teenager had shown up at his best friend's house about an hour ago and had told her that he had to leave, because of reasons he hadn't been able to explain to her in a way that she understood. It wasn't that he hadn't tried to explain what had happened, but he just hadn't been able to make sense with what he was saying. It had taken quite some time before Sophie had managed to drag him into her car to drive him back home. It had been close to midnight and the Winchesters had to be out of their minds worrying about him, after all.

Seeing how obviously relieved Val was, Sophie was absolutely sure that she had done the right thing, too.

It was just a few seconds later that Sam came downstairs with Emma in his arms. The girl had refused to go to sleep while her older brother wasn't there. They had tried to keep Gabriel's disappearance a secret and had told her that he was just having a sleepover with one of his friends, but she had most likely picked up on everyone being worried and hadn't believed the story.

The younger Winchester looked nothing but relieved at having the teenager back with them either and quickly approached him, only stopping himself from hugging the archangel, because of the frightened look his son shot his way. Right, they had a lot to talk about. That didn't make the fact that for the very first time in his life Gabriel was really afraid of what his father might say or do hurt any less, however.

Neither one of the people present liked just how quiet the teenager was even after his sister jumped into his arms and did the best a four year old could to squeeze the life out of him. Val gave Sophie another grateful smile before she ushered her two kids inside. They should all calm down and get comfortable for a start.

"Gabriel thought you… you w-w-would h-hate him for s-s-something," the teenage girl managed to say, her stuttering always more prominent when she was nervous about something and fighting to find the right words.

Sam closed his eyes for a moment and sighed deeply. It wasn't like he hadn't more or less known that already, but it still hurt to hear it.

"I have s-seen the way you l-looked when you saw him a-again. I know he's w-wrong," Sophie added with a small smile, "P-p-please, don't be mad, he's really scared."

She wasn't worried about leaving Gabriel with his family now that she had seen how genuinely happy they all were to have him back with them, but she knew that her friend believed that he had done something so horrible that they had to hate him, all the same.

"I'm not mad at him," the younger Winchester promised with so much sincerity that it surprised him, too. After trying to find even the littlest hint about where the archangel had gone to without success for over two hours Sam had felt the helpless kind of rage bubble up inside of him. Of course, he had only been out of his mind with worries, but those feelings had made themselves known as something dangerously close to actually being mad at his son for making them go through all that in the first place. The moment he had seen Gabriel stand in the doorway those feelings had disappeared and had been replaced by nothing but relief, however.

"You're a really good friend, Sophie," Sam added, giving the girl a small smile.

They said their goodbyes shortly after that, but not before the younger Winchester had asked her if she was okay driving back by herself. It was late and she had obviously been stressed before, so it only seemed reasonable to ask. The girl seemed completely confident that she was fit to drive, however.

Sam wasn't exactly proud of himself for being really glad when Sophie was gone and he was free to go to join the rest of his family in their living room.

Val was still holding Gabriel, whispering calming things into the teenager's hair, while Emma was clinging to his other side like he was afraid her bigger brother might disappear again the moment she let go. Going by the logic of a four year old, it wasn't unreasonable to assume that she was in fact scared of that very thing.

Valerie shot her husband a short, worried look over their son's head before she pressed a quick kiss to the teenager's forehead and pried his sister away from him. "We'll get you ready for bed and I'll read you a story and I'm sure Gabriel will come to say good night in a bit."

The archangel nodded, patting the little girl's head before their mother took her upstairs, mouthing 'I'll give everyone a call' to Sam. They had contacted quite a few people to ask if Gabriel was with them, after all. They should all know that they could stop worrying and looking. It really seemed like her husband would have other things to deal with, however.

The moment the other two were gone, the teenager pulled his legs up against his chest, looking into his father's direction, but not exactly at him. "I'm so sorry."

"You should be," Sam replied in a relatively calm and soft tone, however. It was only a few moments later that he sat down on the couch next to the teenager, leaving very little space between them. "We were worried, Gabe. Hell, I was out of my mind with worries! I thought I might never see you again and all over a stupid book!"

The archangel flinched slightly, but didn't resist when his father put his arms around him and held him tight like his mother had done before. Gabriel had spent hours sitting in the ruins of a monastery he had seen in a book a while ago after he had ran away in a mad rush to somehow do something against feeling like the monster he had read about and that he just knew had been him.

Remembering things from his previous life was a lot like remembering dreams to the archangel. Everything was hazy and fuzzy around the edges and the memories had to be prompted by some sort of story someone told him most of the time. That stupid book had prompted a lot of very unpleasant memories at once and the worst thing was that he also remembered that at the time he hadn't felt like he was doing something wrong at all and had even thought that a few of the things he had been doing were hilarious.

"'S not just a book," Gabriel mumbled, resisting the urge to hug his dad back and just let him comfort him, because he felt like he simply didn't deserve it.

Sam sighed deeply, tightening his grip on the teenager a little. There were a lot of things he wanted to say and even more that he felt he should say, but he forced himself to keep quiet and see if the teenager had something to add first.

"I know that I did all that stuff," Gabriel whispered, finally giving in and wrapping his arms around his father's middle. He didn't know why, but a part of him really had expected the other man to push him away, even though his dad had hugged him first, so he was relieved when that didn't happen. "I… I felt drawn to the book and I didn't know why first, but then… It's just like the book about the little angel, or those stories about slow dancing aliens and trapping you and uncle Dean in TV land… I just know…"

The younger Winchester nodded along slightly. It was true that they had told the archangel quite a few things about his former life, but nobody had ever wanted to touch the mystery spot incident with a ten foot pole. It was the one story that was incredibly painful to remember and simply painted Gabriel in a bad light.

"How can you even look at me?" the teenager asked much more seriously than he should ever have to say something like that, "I hurt you so much and I just didn't stop! And uncle Dean…"

Thinking of the things that the old Gabriel had done to his uncle was enough to make the teenager's head spin and make him wish he could just disappear and stop thinking about all this again. Not that he had managed to silence all these thoughts when he had been alone, which was a part of the reason why he had ended on Sophie's doorstep in the first place.

"Gabriel, stop," Sam interrupted the archangel's rant and inner freak out in his best father has spoken voice, "I… I'll admit that I spent a lot of time, a lot more time than is healthy really, hating the Trickster back then, but not you. Never you! I've loved you ever since the first time I held you in my arms and I already knew who you had been before then."

Dean and all the others who had known the trickster archangel before agreed that their Gabriel was someone completely different, too.

"Why?" the teenager whispered, cuddling a little closer to his father. He really wanted to believe that. Maybe, maybe if he had been forgiven completely, things could go on like they had, sort of. He'd always know what he had done now, but maybe that didn't have to change his entire life like he had thought it would.

"I don't know," Sam admitted, "I just did. You needed me to take care of you and to love you and I needed you to have something important to focus on and to keep me standing when I felt like I'd crumble any second. We've always been a good team and we still are."

Gabriel studied his father's face for a few long moments before he leaned his head against the adult's shoulder and exhaled shakily. There was nothing but sincerity to be found and the archangel had to acknowledge that if he had stopped to think about everything earlier, he would have noticed that nobody had ever given him a reason to doubt that they all just loved him for who he was. The shock of learning about the things his old self had done to his family combined with the shadows of memories had been enough to override all reasonable thoughts, however.

"There are three more books that include you," the younger Winchester explained a few moments of silence later, "You know most of the stories in those, but after everything I want you to read them, anyway. And I want you to come to me when there's something you really don't like or don't understand in any of them immediately this time."

The archangel pulled a face but nodded his consent. If his father thought that that was the way to go, then he would trust him. This sort of reasoning didn't come quite as naturally to the seventeen year old as it had come to his younger self, but he still firmly believed that his dad knew what was to do and that he'd never make him do anything that might be bad for him, anyway.

"Look, I want you to read those books, especially the last one, because you weren't a bad person," Sam added after seeing his son's initial reaction, "And I want you to see for yourself that you might have a few basic traits in common with your former self, but you are not the same."

Gabriel nodded again with a little less hesitation than before. At least, stumbling over those books or anything else that might bring back some memories of his former lifetime couldn't surprise him at some inconvenient time, if he got it over with and just read them.

"Can I go say good night to Em now?" the teenager asked after mulling these things over in his mind and deciding that he had done enough thinking on the topic for the moment being.

"Sure. I bet she's waiting for you, anyway," the younger Winchester replied with a chuckle. The four year old would have tried for sure, the question was if she had been successful with staying up any longer.

"One more thing, Gabe," Sam called after the teenager before he could leave the room completely, walking up to him and putting a hand on his shoulder gently, "Don't ever think that you have to run away because of anything again. We will track you down and we will bring you back and that's as much of a threat as it is a promise."

Gabriel's eyes widened in surprise, but he grinned meekly and hugged his father tight again for a moment before he finally went upstairs to show his little sister that she could go to sleep knowing that her big brother was exactly where he should be.

* * *

_You really deserved having the little kraken in your bed overnight for scaring us like you did. Seriously though, don't ever do something like that again, Gabe. I just can't lose you!_


	50. Chapter 50

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, CassXDeano, Avalonemyst, Shorty22133, Nyx Ro, FireChildSlytherin5, CherylB1964, kb18142, starshaker, Purpura Avis, RachelPhobia and one guest for last chapter's reviews!**  
**

Only the epilogue is left now... I have a new story planned already, however. ;-)

* * *

**50**

_March 24th, 2028_

_It's your 18__th__ birthday today. I always intended to give the diary – diaries, really. This one is the 15__th__ I have written – to you once you reach adulthood. I'm really curious to see how you're going to like your present. _

_As you can see there are still a few empty pages, begging to be filled, but that's not up to me anymore…_

* * *

"It's your birthday!" Emma yelled excitedly, jumping on the bed her older brother had been sleeping in without showing any regards for the safety of any more sensitive personal bits. Sometimes the little girl's love came on as strong and as intensive as a kick to the nuts, quite literally.

"Some people like to sleep in for their birthdays, Em," Gabriel groaned which he might not have done if his sister's foot had hit him just a little more to the left or the right. He sure as hell was completely awake now, however. That was quite a feat at half past six in the morning when he didn't even have to go to school! Teacher conferences were a blessing, especially when they came with a perfect timing like they did that year.

"No," Emma shook her head vigorously, sending her light brown curls flying all around her head, "You want your birthday breakfast and presents!"

The fact that the five year old knew that her own birthday always was shortly after her brother's helped with making her even more excited. Sure, she wasn't going to get any major presents – some little ones were basically always a possibility – but there would be cake later and breakfast should be awesome, too.

"Mom 'n dad aren't up yet," Gabriel pointed out, throwing back the blanket and getting ready to get out of bed, anyway. It wasn't like Emma would just go back to sleep and her enthusiasm was contagious, too.

"You can cook," the little girl pointed out, giving her brother her best puppy dog eyes. She had an intense craving for chocolate chip pancakes and nobody made them quite as good as her brother. Sure, their dad made awesome ones too and their mother's were good enough, but when she had the chance, she wanted Gabriel's.

"You got a point," the teenager admitted, finally getting out of bed and allowing his little sister to jump into his arms so he could carry her downstairs. He didn't point out that his birthday breakfast should be made by someone else, because he didn't mind the idea of cooking himself. Actually, he had made plans to go to culinary school after graduation, even if Mari liked to point out that with his grades he could just as well apply for the University of South Dakota like Toshio had. His friend planned to become a lawyer and had chosen a mix between sociological and law related courses for his pre law studies. He had gotten a scholarship for it too which was great for him, because he was interested in all these things. Gabriel couldn't honestly say that he was, however.

"Chocolate chip pancakes!" Emma demanded the moment they set foot into the kitchen, letting her brother go and already searching for the things they could use to make the pancakes with. She knew where all the eggbeaters and bowls were and could help a little, after all.

"I thought I'd make oatmeal today," Gabriel teased his sister, reaching for the box just to make his clam more believable and annoy her a little more.

"No!" Emma wailed, "Chocolate chip pancakes!"

"It's my birthday and I want eggs," the teenager persisted.

"There are eggs in pancakes," his little sister pointed out, pouting with a wobbly lower lip like she was about to cry.

"Hey, it's okay. I was just messing with you, Em," Gabriel quickly told her, wrapping his arms around Emma until he was sure that she wasn't going to cry over this. He had to admit that he had underestimated just how badly she wanted those pancakes before. Life had been easier when he had just read her thoughts all the time, but he had mostly stopped doing that when her vocabulary had been big enough to just tell them what she wanted.

"Okay, you can get the milk and the eggs now," the archangel told his little sister once he was sure that she had calmed down completely again.

It was good that he had given her something to do, too. That way she wasn't startled as badly as she might have been when Crowley suddenly appeared by the doorway.

"Happy birthday," the king of hell said, nodding toward the teenager before he looked at the little girl and winked at her.

Emma immediately grabbed her brother's shirt and tried to hide behind him, only stealing a glance at the scary newcomer every now and then. She faintly remembered seeing the guy before, but she still didn't like him.

"Hey Crowley," Gabriel greeted the demon casually, handing a few chocolate chips to his sister to keep her happy and occupied, "Thank you. Now where's my present?"

He would have liked to tell his sister that she didn't have to be afraid of Crowley, but as a matter of fact it was better for her to be afraid of guys like Crowley, so he didn't think that it would be such a great idea to say anything about that. Emma felt safe enough hiding behind her bigger brother, anyway.

"You're such a delightful little bugger sometimes," the king of hell replied sarcastically before he added more seriously, "Eighteen more years of keeping my subjects away from your family."

"Sounds awesome," Gabriel grinned, starting to mix the batter so Emma could have her pancakes without delay, "And it means I won't have to kick your ass for another eighteen years."

The two men passed a look of quiet understanding between them after that. The archangel knew that he could have killed the demon simply for being a demon, but he chose not to do it, because Crowley was about the best option for king of hell they could have hoped for. At the same time, Crowley knew that he could easily make the lives of all Winchesters and their affiliates much harder and more dangerous, but he chose not to do it, because he knew he would ultimately lose, no matter how many of them he managed to take with him.

Besides, even when Gabriel had been too young to consciously understand it, he had always known that despite being a demon the other man wasn't entirely evil and against all reason liked him. The feeling had been mutual, too.

"You smell bad!" Emma suddenly stated, pinching her nose closed. The guy wasn't only freaky and a bit scary, he also had this appalling smell around him. The girl thought he did, anyway. He should just leave before the pancakes would smell too! Damn, he should just leave!

"You try spending most of your days in hell," Crowley replied casually, "You won't smell like roses, either."

The little girl thought about that answer for a few moments and regarded the demon for another few before she just stuck her tongue out at him and grabbed her brother's shirt tighter, hiding behind him again.

"I'd ask if you want to stay for breakfast, but yeah," Gabriel shrugged, flipping the first pancake while he was talking.

The king of hell was already gone before the archangel turned around again however. Emma looked a little confused at that, but her mind was occupied with other things very quickly when her brother put the first pancake on a plate and handed it to her.

* * *

"Happy birthday to you," the family finished singing. They still hadn't improved much when it came to choir singing, but didn't keep them from trying for birthdays and, once there had been enough eggnog, for Christmas.

Actually, there had been one memorable occasion a few Christmases back at which Balthazar had managed to spike Dean's drinks without the older Winchester noticing up to the point where the human had loudly announced that they needed to sing Happy Birthday for baby Jesus.

Gabriel smiled widely, took a deep breath and blew out the eighteen candles on the chocolate cake Jody had put on the table earlier.

"They grow up so fast," Balthazar stated overly dramatically, wiping an imaginary tear away from his eye. It only seemed like yesterday that Gabriel had still been a little baby and now he was considered an adult in most parts of the world! Of course, that also meant that they had a whole new world of possibilities when it came to events they could attend together. The blonde angel wouldn't have been able to say for sure what he liked better, knowing that he could take his little brother to all sort of night clubs in a lot of countries or knowing that Sam would still throw a tantrum but would be unable to forbid it.

"Open your presents!" Emma demanded, pulling on her brother's sleeve to get his attention. The sooner he opened the presents the sooner there would be cake! Besides, she had made him something very special and wanted to see how he'd like it.

"You're pushy today," Gabriel told his sister with a grin, tousling her hair until she batted his hand away. He reached for the first present soon afterward, anyway. Being five years old and having to wait for things wasn't easy, after all. Damn, being eighteen and having to be patient wasn't easy, either.

The wrapping paper came off the small rectangular box Bobby had handed over to the teenager to reveal a sturdy looking watch with a metal band and an integrated calendar.

"A man needs a good watch," Bobby explained with a small smirk, "So he always knows when it's time to give the grandparents a call."

The archangel smiled, took the watch out of the box and put it around his wrist immediately. Like he could ever forget to check in regularly with any member of his family, but the thought was very nice and he had needed a new one, too.

Before anyone else could make a move to give a present to Gabriel, Emma grabbed the pink bag her mother had let her buy a couple of days ago and pushed it into her brother's hands.

The box the teenager pulled out of the gift bag had colorful buttons, rhinestones and glitter glued all over it. He might not exactly have too many uses for something like that, but the way his sister beamed when he smiled widely made him decide to find a good place for it as soon as they got home.

"It's a treasure chest," Emma explained, hopping off her chair and climbing on her brother's lap before she reached for the top of the box and opened it, "And that's the treasure."

The little girl squeaked when her brother wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her, whispering, "Yes, it is Em."

Inside the box was a photograph of the two siblings that had been taken shortly after Christmas with both of them wearing their new Christmas sweaters and grinning for the camera.

"They're both clearly your kids, Samantha," Dean commented, nudging his younger brother with his elbow. It was undoubtedly true that the great majority of all chick flick moments had started happening right around the time Sam had decided to adopt Gabriel as his own. The majority of all chick flick moments that the entire family knew about, anyway. There might have been a handful of those between him and Cas behind closed doors over the years, too. But nobody could prove that, it wasn't like anyone had seen or heard anything!

"Really, Dean? We're back to 'Sammy is a gigantic girl'?" the younger Winchester shot back with a raised eyebrow. Chances were they'd both never grown out of the sibling-dynamics they had built over a long time. Sam was okay with that, but that didn't mean that he couldn't throw his own comments back at his older brother.

"What do you mean 'we're back'? You always were a girl," Dean shrugged nonchalantly. His younger brother had also been gigantic for most of his life, but the older Winchester didn't comment on that, because he knew how women could react to anything they could take as a reference to their weight. The stupid grin on his face gave away that he had just been thinking something that clearly wasn't all that nice.

"Jerk," Sam can't help saying, even though he knew he probably shouldn't have. Oh well, it wasn't like Emma had never heard any 'bad words' before. With their family learning to swear early was basically a given.

"Bitch," Dean shot back automatically.

"Bitch," the five year old yelled with a big grin, making her father and her uncle wince slightly with it even while Gabriel held her a bit tighter and nearly shook with laughter. The fact that Balthazar only winked at her and gave her a thumbs up made Emma repeat the word a couple more times.

Both Sam and Val knew that their reaction probably wasn't the one most parents would have, but they both agreed that they could still be glad that their little daughter had only picked up that word this far. Well, that word and a bunch of others she had repeated after hearing someone say them. The real silver lining was that she seemed to have forgotten most of them again minutes after first saying them.

The next present Gabriel uncovered was an oil painting of the archangel Gabriel in full armor. It wasn't until Castiel suddenly started to unsuccessfully try and hide his chuckle behind his hand that the teenager understood that this was his brother's idea of a funny joke. Actually, for Cas' standards, it wasn't a half bad one and the painting was really cool, anyway.

To tell the truth, the older Winchester had thought about giving his nephew a gun for his eighteenth birthday, but he had dropped that plan quickly enough when he thought about his five years old niece running around the house, getting her hands on just about everything no matter if she was meant to or not. Not to mention that, even if a threatening situation should occur, a firearm wouldn't make Gabriel any more dangerous to anyone trying to threaten him or his family than he already was, anyway.

Instead he had done the sensible thing and had picked up one of his not entirely – or at all really – legitimate credit cards and had ordered something he knew his nephew would like.

"It's awesome, uncle Dean," the teenager exclaimed, getting the new leather jacket out of the box. He hadn't had one for a couple of years. His uncle had given up getting him new ones for his birthday or Christmas when it had become clear that he'd grow out of them before they were even really worn in, but it looked like he already was as tall as he was going to get, so chances were that this one could last for quite a few years.

After Gabriel had tried his new jacket on, he allowed his sister to put it on, too. Of course, Emma nearly disappeared in the thing, but she was looking so happy that Dean seriously contemplated getting her one for her birthday, too. It wasn't like money was that much of a factor with an angel around who made credit card scams easier and made it a lot less likely that there'd ever be jail time or anything alike.

"Well, well, look at that," Balthazar commented with a smirk, "Our presents match."

The archangel caught the little box his brother threw his way easily enough and opened it curiously. He wasn't quite sure what he had expected, but a car key wasn't it. That seemed a little over the top, even for his blonde brother's standards.

"It seemed fitting," Balthazar explained with a shrug. He had expected the incredulous looks, really. Of course, he had also expected the older Winchester's extremely critical look, which he couldn't let pass just like that. "It is a very sweet little French model in yellow with a canvas roof."

Of all the males in the family, Dean might be the one who was clearly the most obsessed with cars, especially his own, but at that announcement they all looked a little scandalized.

Balthazar shook his head with a groan, "It's an Impala '27 in black you morons."

Gabriel immediately looked very excited and they all had to go look at the car immediately. It wasn't exactly a classical car yet, but given the time it would be some day, as Balthazar pointed out. The older Winchester would have had something to say to that – 'modern plastic crap' came to mind – but seeing how happy his nephew was gave him enough motivation to bite his tongue.

* * *

"That good?" Gabriel asked, putting the treasure chest his sister had made for him on a shelf close to his bed.

They had returned to their home not too long ago. Of course, they had needed to take the new car, which conveniently came with a car seat for Emma, for a test drive first. Maybe it wasn't exactly the Impala, but it was a really good substitute as even Dean had had to admit.

"Good," Emma agreed, nodding satisfied. She had helped her brother putting his presents away in his room and had wanted to make sure that he found the perfect place for her present, too.

A soft knock from the door alerted the siblings to the presence of their father, who was carrying a rather big box with a bow on top.

"One more present," Sam announced, walking over to sit next to his two kids on the archangel's bed, "It's been in the making for eighteen years."

Gabriel frowned as he opened the box and took one of the books inside out to take a closer look. He had seen his father write into his diaries every now and then over the years, but he had always assumed that he was just writing things down for himself. Reading the first few sentences about the day when he had first learned to ride a bicycle made perfectly clear that the writing really was all about him, however.

"What is it?" Emma asked curiously after keeping quiet for the minute she had been able to bear. She had of course tried to look inside to see what the present was, but she couldn't make sense of what she had seen completely.

"My entire life," Gabriel replied, looking toward his father for confirmation. He still couldn't quite believe that the adult really had written all these things down, but with every one of the diaries he opened he saw an entry about the one or the other event in his life.

The teenager put the box aside and quickly hugged his father tightly, before promising to the confused five year old, "I'm gonna read you a story later. You'll get it then."

Emma seemed to consider that for a few long moments before she nodded seriously. Whenever Gabriel promised something he'd really do it later on and that was good enough for her.

It was a few minutes later that Valerie called for the three of them to come downstairs for dinner. Cookie had already taken his place close enough to the table to see whenever someone would throw him a bone, figuratively spoken.

"Best birthday ever," Gabriel declared, smiling at his family.

And the best thing was that he still had many more birthdays with all of them to come.

* * *

_The car is awesome and all, but the price for best present clearly goes to you, dad._


	51. Epilogue

**Author's note: **Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Keefer, Maddy Love Castiel, FireChildSlytherin5, Avalonemyst, Hesta101, RachelPhobia, CassXDeano, Purpura Avis, kb18142, CherylB1964, Pizzapig, starshaker and PrettyLittleJumper for last chapter's reviews and thanks to everyone who ever read, reviewed or favorited this story. You all are the reason why I keep writing!**  
**

* * *

**Epilogue**

_November 25__th__, 2032_

_So, it turns out I suck at keeping up diaries. Don't act so surprised._

_Anyway, Thanksgiving seems like a good day to try and bring you up to date._

* * *

"I brought muffins!" Gabriel yelled as soon as he had opened the door to his family's home, his two best friends in tow.

What neither Sophie nor Toshio knew was that the archangel was still mostly living with his family, even though he technically had his own apartment. Most of the time he just didn't feel like staying there after closing the little bakery he had opened the previous year, however. Of course, the times when he had a girlfriend and she was staying over were an exception to the rule. In general, it was awesome to get to choose between the privacy of his own home and the company of the family.

"We b-brought nothing!" Sophie exclaimed with a grin, nudging Toshio none too gently with her elbow when he rolled his eyes at her for the stupid joke.

Gabriel laughed at his two friends and handed the big container with the muffins over to his mother when she came out of the kitchen to greet and hug them.

Toshio hadn't exactly become any less serious ever since he had graduated his pre-law studies and had successfully applied to Michigan Law School, but he had never even considered looking for new friends to replace the two goofballs he had been hanging out with since before pre-school. Granted, he still didn't understand why Gabriel hadn't done anything with his damn near perfect SAT score, but owning his own business and running it very successfully didn't exactly count as wasting his life.

Sophie's career choice was a completely different matter, of course. She hadn't only dropped out of the arts college she had chosen for herself after less than a year, but had also taken up acting in plays on whatever stage production would have her just like her father. The impressive thing about that was that with breathing techniques and speech training she had managed to keep her stutter completely under control while she was on stage. The young woman had decided early on that it wasn't worth paying so much attention and sounding slightly unnatural when she was having private conversations, however. Actually, the fact that she was working as a stage hand, make up artist of sorts, accountant of the mostly self-taught kind and basically everything else that was needed for the theater to make ends meet was quite impressive, as well.

Emma came running down the stairs as soon as she realized that her older brother and his friends had arrived and made a full stop to hug her brother tightly before she quickly grabbed Sophie's arm, dragging her toward the stairs.

"We're taking pictures later, you gotta do my hair!" the nine year old explained before the two of them were gone from sight.

The youngest Winchester might not exactly be overly vain, but she surely enjoyed having someone around who could help her get her curly hair into the sort of hairstyle that would just make her look like a little angel on any pictures that might be taken. With a family full of angels it only seemed fair that she could at least look like one, not that she'd let Sophie in on that particular train of thoughts.

"How do you like Michigan?" Sam asked after the obligatory greetings when Gabriel and Toshio made it to the living room where most of the others were assembled.

"It's really cool, a lot of work, though," the young man replied with a shrug. He had spent some time discussing his pre law and law studies with the younger Winchester to hear his general opinion on things, even if he had never gotten further than pre law. Toshio had a pretty high opinion of his best friend's father, so he had felt he could give him good advice, anyway.

"You know, Sammy," Dean stated thoughtfully, "With Gabriel gone and Em at school you could go back to college, too."

The older Winchester had given up fighting the grey hairs a while ago, but it had to be said that there weren't too many of them. His rigorous plucking out of every single grey hair in the first years must have sent the desired warning message to the rest of them.

Granted, he found it easier to accept the few signs of growing older there were ever since Castiel had caught on and had allowed some of his own hair in the temple area to lose its color. He was also mimicking most of the small wrinkles Dean had developed and in general appeared to be around the same age as his partner.

Balthazar hadn't found it necessary to make any changes to his appearance. The few times someone had asked him how he managed to keep from aging he had made mentions of a damn good doctor. That usually was enough to silence all further questions, at least from the Winchester's social circle.

Sam snorted before he replied with a slight smirk, "I'll go to college once Emma does. Make sure the boys stay away from her."

To be honest, he had considered taking up his studies again, but this far the strong urge to do so hadn't set in. Instead he had applied for a part time job at the library close to his daughter's school and was now working there most days while she was at school. Other days he visited Gabriel at his bakery and spent some hours watching the archangel work and generally being very proud of his son.

"You could at least let your daughter have the full high school and college experience. Isn't it enough that you kept Gabriel away from all the exciting things?" Balthazar snarked with a raised eyebrow. Of course, he knew that his little brother had had more than enough fun during high school, but if it hadn't been for Sam's overly strict moral code, things could have gotten by far more interesting still.

"Yeah, 'cause I've been totally living like a monk," the archangel chuckled, rolling his eyes and giving a push to his best friend's shoulder, "What are you laughing about? Compared to you, I'm pretty tame."

Saying that might have been a bit of an overstatement, but not as much as everybody would assume. Gabriel was in relationships before he slept with someone most of the time these days. It was nothing but a coincidence that the relationships generally didn't last that long.

"I'm not telling my family all about it," Toshio shot back. Actually, he didn't tell his family anything about it. As far as they were concerned he was single and only focusing on his studies. It wasn't that far from the truth. He was single and focusing on his studies, he only spent the time he had left at the end of the day with some fellow female students.

"Makes it much better, Tosh," Gabriel chuckled, scratching Cookie – who everyone outside of the family assumed was at least Cookie 2 or 3 by that time – behind the ears. Then again, if he had his friend's parents, he wouldn't have mentioned his various short term girlfriends as often as he did, either.

"I understand," Castiel piped up, mostly speaking to Dean, "Toshio is sparing his parents feelings, like we were sparing Sam from having to imagine what we might be doing in his guest room for the longest time."

Sam and Gabriel shuddered so much in sync with each other that Balthazar couldn't help laughing at them. Like father like son, indeed. Castiel's overly blunt way of just saying things exactly how and whenever they came to his mind would never get old, either.

It wasn't long after that that Val called for everyone to gather around the dining table, or rather tables due to the number of people present.

Sophie and Emma managed to come back downstairs just in time before Jody brought the turkey to the table. The nine year old looked completely happy with the casual updo Sophie had put her hair into and was beaming at everyone present while Bobby carved the turkey as he did every year. It just seemed fair to let their oldest family member do the honor, not to mention that he was the one of them who knew how to do that best.

"We should say what we're all thankful for before we eat," Valerie stated. They did that basically ever year, after all.

"Let's make this a little more interesting," Balthazar suggested with a smirk, "We all know we're oh so grateful for each other and all that, so everybody, find something else to say."

Everyone looked a little uncertain for a moment, but then they shrugged or nodded. It wasn't like it was such a bad idea, after all.

"I am grateful that all you idjits know how to use a phone to call ahead before you show up," Bobby started in his usual gruff tone, though it was all too clear that he really was happy that they all visited and called as often as they did.

"I am grateful for a heart of gold underneath a layer of flannel," Jody stated, patting her partner's chest gently. She might as well have been speaking about every other member of the family, too. Most of them didn't wear flannel too often, but all of them did every now and then.

"That was very close to cheating, sheriff," Balthazar pointed out before he added somberly, "I am grateful for the moral decline over the past decades. Makes things so much easier."

Really, coming to Earth at the time when people had firmly believed in celibacy and general public decency would have been very tedious. Though the angel supposed that he could have taught a lot of things to the uptight humans at the time.

"I am grateful, I don't have to see him more often," Dean stated next, shaking his head.

"I am grateful that I get to see you every day," Castiel smiled, squeezing his partner's hand under the table, "And I am grateful that the Kamasutra was preserved over the centuries."

The older Winchester gave the angel an incredulous look. He had started so well, but of course Castiel still hadn't mastered the art of quitting while he was ahead.

"I am grateful that Emma didn't understand that reference," Sam couldn't help saying, even though his daughter pouted at him for it. Of course, she wanted to know now, but that was one can of worms that the younger Winchester wasn't going to open!

"I am grateful that things around here never get predictable," Valerie added sincerely. There were many things that could be said about their family and not all of them would be flattering, but they definitely weren't boring or overly conventional.

"And I'm so grateful that my family doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. I really wouldn't have wanted to miss all this," Toshio chuckled. He also was grateful for loose women, cheap beer and the ability to party and then still study just as hard, but as a law student he knew the importance of not incriminating himself.

"I am grateful for friends with b-bakeries. This artist won't s-starve to d-death," Sophie stated, giving Gabriel a bright grin. Honestly, some days the archangel thought that he was eventually going to marry her. Most days he thought that they'd be friends forever and that that was just the way it should be, however.

Emma had been thinking about what she wanted to say for quite some time, but when she finally had decided on one thing she quickly exclaimed, "I am grateful that Gabe will stay to play with me."

Of course, they hadn't talked about that before, but it was a clear enough wish and it wasn't like the archangel would have wanted to say no to that. It was funny that Emma knew more about subtlety than Castiel did, in any case.

"I am grateful," Gabriel started before he just smiled and shrugged, "I am grateful for everything in my life."

* * *

_I can't promise that I'll write again anytime soon, but rest assured that whatever happens I'll be okay. With a family like mine, everything else isn't an option._


End file.
